


Bonded to a hunter

by Wayward_Alex



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Forced Bonding, Hurt Dean Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of minor Destiel, Season 12 spoilers, This is all about Dean Winchester being in emotional pain and trying to hide it from everyone else, looking for a beta reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-02 16:35:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 52,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8674723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayward_Alex/pseuds/Wayward_Alex
Summary: Astrid Rottmann is an Empath, an almost extinct race of witches. She doesn't know shit about her magic because she was adopted into a quite large whealthy family. She learned the basics about magic with her brother Cyrus when traveling, but it was all for protection against other supernatural beings and hunters.She wakes up one day overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings that are not her own. No matter what, she can't stop herself from reading this random person's mind. Astrid gets tired one say and takes a flight to Kansas to break the bond or kill whoever is on the other side of the bond.Meanwhile, Dean is dealing with Lucifer, his mother, and the BMOL. Who says he doesn’t need one more problem in the form of a very powerful witch with anger management issues and awkward personality.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is currently looking for a beta reader.  
> Be sure to follow me at [xelako.tumblr.com ](xelako.tumblr.com)

Hiding in the middle of a highly religious community was bent to go wrong sooner or later. That was the joy of being born with magic powers. Astrid was an Empath, a rare type of white witch that had been hunted for centuries in northern Europe. Of course she didn’t know much about her family for the simple reason that they were all mostly dead or living in Ireland or some other bullshit country in the other side of the world like Netherlands or something.

 

Adoption was how she found herself being part of a large Latin family. She had lived in Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia, and even Brazil for a couple of summer’s because her Dad had a business partner over there. You might be wondering what’s the point of Astrid’s existence. Well, remember Harry Potter? Of course you do. Astrid found out she had powers while reading the first book. She never learned how to actually focus on them, and had never told anyone but her brother about them. It was a stupid power anyway. Reading minds was cool as hell until you learned what she needed to do to be able to read someone’s mind.  Astrid needed to have physical contact with said person to be able to read their minds. It was always the thoughts lying on the surface of one’s mind. People never think about important things when she touches them. It’s really not that amazing.  

 

Her parents had shipped her off to Mexico to study either business or law to help out with the family business. Astrid had dragged herself through business school and made average grades. Everything about her was average at most. Average looks, average brown eyes, average brown hair, average amount of friends who she could leave behind in the blink of an eye (except for Alice her best friend since middle school), and average lack of boyfriends (or girlfriends).  The thing about being an empath is that she could easily read someone’s mood by simply staring at them for far too long or gently touching their hand. It was a good trick for business and to deal with her parents, uncles, cousins, and grandparents during awkward family gatherings. Astrid had ten uncles and had lost count of how many cousins she had. She was the family’s official translator when it came to French, English, or Japanese (Astrid had an anime phase when she was 15). Her family usually forgot she had been adopted and all was good-ish.

 

She was dull and had her life all figured out until one day the sun began to die.

 

Her family dragged her to church on Sunday, her grandma leading the herd to a cathedral and urging them to pray the rosary with her. Most of the family lived in Mexico or Brazil due to larger business opportunities. There had been talks about expanding business to the US or Canada. Her family owned different chemical factories that sold several different things to other factories. Astrid was in charge of selling, not knowing chemistry; that was her brother Cyrus’ job.

 

The sun didn’t die as expected; 2016 had been a bad year, but it wasn’t the literal end of the world. Astrid and Cyrus, who was also adopted the same year she had been, separated from their adoptive family and took off to Cancun for an impromptu vacation. They had no kids or serious obligations. Cyrus was what the family called an overseer, while Astrid dealt with only the most serious business problems that her parents didn’t have time to deal with. This usually meant traveling to fight with other businessmen.

 

Astrid woke up in the middle of the night feeling scared, happy, surprised, and so many other feelings that it was impossible they were all coming from inside her. She gasped and tried to get out of bed without waking her brother on the other side.  It obviously wasn’t the best idea. Astrid was also feeling dizzy and weak, but this was he and not whoever she was sensing. Her clumsy feet tangled with the sheets and she fell to the carpeted floor with a loud thud.

 

“Astrid?” Cyrus groaned in his sleep. “¿Que? What’s up?” he asked, unwilling to open his eyes.

 

“I… no sé… I don’t know, I’m just,” Astrid trailed off and leaned against the bed.

 

Cyrus shot up from his bed and zeroed on her. “Astrid?”

 

“Dormite,” she said, ordering him to sleep. "It's late."

 

“Hell no. What’s wrong? Is it the magic thing?” Cyrus' voice carried his worry and it only served to make Astrid more jittery.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe. I feel like I’m not me right now,” said Astrid, raising an eyebrow at herself. “I don’t know.”

 

“Ok, that’s weirder than usual.” Cyrus stood up and went over to his duffel bag to grab some black gloves and a hoodie. “Here, let me help you up.”

 

“No, no. I’m…” Astrid shook her head and buried her face in her hands. "If you lift me I'm gonna throw up." She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. “It feels like I’m reading someone else’s mind right now.”

 

“Go on," he prompted. "Try to figure out who it is.”

 

“Well **he** is definitely freaked out wherever he is… but I’m pretty sure he can’t feel me.” Astrid brought her knees closer to her chest and pressed her forehead to her knees. “Cyrus, he is a hunter.”

 

“Well, shit." Cyrus sat back with a surprised expression. "Is he close? Do we need to pack?” Cyrus stood up and headed back to his duffel bag. He grabbed a prescription bottle for pain meds and grabbed a water bottle from the mini fridge. “Drink this.”

 

“Thanks.” Astrid swallowed the pills. “I don’t think he is close. It feels like he is in a forest and it’s fucking cold out there.” She saw Cyrus relaxing and sit down next to her on the carpet floor. “He is talking to someone. I can’t make out the words, but he is talking about his family. Oh! He is talking to his mom.”

 

“Can you feel his emotions or something else?” Cyrus lifted an eyebrow.

 

“He is scared. Too scared. Like someone is going to take her away from him any moment. God, this hurts. He has such a beautiful soul. Cyrus, what the fuck is going on? I’m not supposed to be able to read people like this.” Astrid tightened her grip on her legs. "He is so scared, Cyrus. He is also so eager and happy. I don't know what's going."

 

“Hey, hey, relax, sis.” Cyrus pressed a gloved hand to her shoulder and brought her in for a hug. He made sure not to have any skin to skin contact. “Wanna find out who this guy is?”

 

“I don’t know how to-” Astrid shut up and her eyes widened. “Oh they are going to Lebanon, Kansas. He told his mom they are going to look for his brother in a... a bunker.” Astrid frowned.

 

“Why the fuck would someone be in a bunker?” Cyrus scowled, whipping his blonde hair away from his forehead.

 

“I don’t know, but the way he said it was like… like he was talking about his home.” Astrid shook her head and pressed the cold bottle to her forehead. The feelings began fading away with the new physical focus. "I need to find out what the fuck is going on with me."

 

“Didn’t mom want to get a new factory in the US? That could be a nice excuse to hunt out for your hunter fella.” Cyrus excused his sister and smiled at her reassuringly.

 

“You are being awfully helpful. What the fuck did you do?”

 

“Nothing, nothing.”

 

“Cyrus.”

 

“I may have slept with your best friend.”

 

“You slept with Alice?

 

“Yes,” Cyrus admitted.

 

“As in had sex… with my bff.”

 

“I uhh…”

 

“You owe me one, asshole.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Astrid work up crying a week after the initial connection with the hunter. She was all alone in her apartment the apartment he shared with Alice in Mexico. She had dreamed about being abandoned and hated by her family. She saw herself giving up all she had for someone who simply didn’t love her back. She was clutching her chest and panting through the pain when she realized it wasn’t all her.

 

The hunter had gotten in a fight with someone while she slept. It was a fight with his mother. Astrid didn’t know what the fight had been about, but she could clearly feel how utterly devastated the hunter was. His pain and sorrow had crawled into her subconscious and it had festered inside her like a demon. Her mind had twisted it and compressed it so much that it became a breath taking physical pain she couldn’t bear. Astrid closed her eyes and then she felt a second thing in the link to the hunter.

 

Knives, cutting her skin in precise cuts; enough to make her bleed, but not enough to end her misery. There was a foul gust of air hitting her ear, like Satan was whispering sweet nothings to her. Her body tensed up, like it was tied down to the bed. Astrid couldn’t move or scream, just suffer and whimper. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she bared the pain eating her up through the link.

 

It was over just as it had started. The pain was gone, replaced with anxiety and fear. This she was comfortable with. Astrid could deal with those emotions. She did something she had never tried with another human that wasn’t her brother. Astrid reached out to the hunter and pulled at the emotions. It was like digging through a pile of goo and trying to find something solid to hold on to. Astrid pulled harder until she had completely snatched the emotion away from the hunter. She held his anxiety and fear within her and dealt with it easily. It was different than dealing with her own emotions. Foreign emotions were more pliant and easy to bend.

 

She refused to talk about the incident. Whatever had happened to the hunter to trigger such emotions and the subsequent nightmare were enough to keep her silent. The hunter had lost a loved one, or been abandoned by one. Astrid somehow knew that he had lost his mother.

 

Astrid began sleeping less and wearing more clothes to keep her skin away hidden. She began toying with searching spells but nothing worked correctly. It was like whoever she was sensing was hidden with ancient sigils. She tried every relaxing herbs she knew to cut off the onslaught of emotions she felt on a daily basis.  Astrid was craving pie a lot. Cyrus made fun of her weight after Astrid voiced her cravings. None of the brothers had expected Astrid to punch Cyrus hard enough to give him a black eye.   

 

“I didn’t know you had that in you.” Cyrus blinked in surprise and tried to remain steady. He felt like he had just been punched in the face by a professional female boxer.

 

“Me neither.” Astrid looked down at her fist. “I mean, we both know I used to Judo, but that didn’t require fists at all.”

 

“That hunter is rubbing off on you.” Cyrus rubbed his eye and leaned against the wall.

 

“Yeah… it’s annoying. He is an asshole and he is in a lot of pain all the time.”

 

“What are we gonna do when we find the asshole?” Cyrus sobered and stopped rubbing his face.

 

“I just want to stop feeling him all the time.” Astrid rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “This hurts a lot.”

 

The Rottmann family was thrilled that the siblings wanted to expand their business together. This of course meant that everyone in the family had “polite advice” to talk about. Both, Astrid and Cyrus had previously worked on the legal paper work needed to set up a business in the US when the family first began idealizing a new business. It all went to hell after their grandfather died a couple years ago. Now that someone in the family wanted to retake the idea, everyone had their 2 cents.

 

Astrid kept crying during random intervals during the day. Apparently, the hunter was unknowingly using Astrid to vent his emotions whenever it was too much for him. Astrid began wearing sunglasses and blaming allergies on her runny nose.

 

“If we do eventually find ourselves in Lebanon… how the fuck are we going to hunt a hunter?” Cyrus asked during a skype call.

 

“I don’t know. We could start mass murdering virgins and keeping their hearts in jars to-”

 

“Ha, ha, so funny, Astrid.” Cyrus groaned. “It’s midnight and I’m tired. Get to the point.”

 

“Sorry, bro.” Astrid sighed. “I can feel the guy. It’s like how birds know where the south is.”

 

“They use the sun.” Cyrus rolled his eyes and stared straight into the camera. "Bird use the sun to guide themselves."

 

“Do they?” she asked.

 

“I don’t know, I’m not a bird.” Cyrus smiled. He stood up from his chair and went behind the camera to do something.

 

Astrid kept talking anyway. “Dude, that was a terrible joke. I can’t believe you banged my best friend.”

 

“Look.” Cyrus appeared behind the camera with his face far too close to it. “Alice and I… we were drunk and-”

 

“Totally don’t wanna know the details.” Astrid grimaced. “You are just gonna have to trust me on this one.”

 

“At least there’s gonna be money out of this.” Cyrus threw himself on the chair and stretched out his arms and neck.

 

“I know right." She grinned. "I always wanted something for ourselves and this is the perfect excuse to start.”

 

“You are not faking this shit, are you?”

 

“Dude, I didn’t even like whiskey until this crap started.”

 

Astrid had begun buying cheap whiskey and having a glass on the rocks for herself whenever the hunter began a drinking en masse. It was an interesting experience. His drunkenness didn’t affect her much, but she was highly aware of it. Like having a kid poking you in the brain with his slimy chubby little finger. She was lucky not to suffer through his hangovers. Astrid had also began singing classic rock more than usual. She used to like classic rock, but now she loved it. Astrid wasn’t too annoyed by that little fact. The hunter had a good music taste.

 

Astrid and Cyrus kept investigating the existent companies ready to be bought in Kansas. They found a sad amount of chemical factories, but it had to do. Cyrus was already zeroing in on factories focused on printing inks, polymers, and pigment because that’s what Astrid was more familiarized with. The brothers took a whole month to gather all the information.

* * *

 

 

 

“Dean, you okay?” Sam asked.

 

“Hmm? Yeah, I just-” Dean trailed off. “I just feel like I’m forgetting something.”

 

“Well you two definitely forgot to take a shower this morning.” Jodi complained in the backseat of the Impala. “Come on guys! I only asked for one thing.”

 

“Dean doesn’t like motel showers anymore.” Sam grinned.

 

“Who would have guessed? Dean Winchester is high maintenance.” Jodi grinned in her seat and

 

“Shut up, ladies,” Dean snapped. “And FYI I did take a shower.”

 

“Touchy, touchy.” Jodi physically backed up. “Is this about the other hunters?”

 

“What? No!” Dean pursed his lips. “I mean, I’m kinda bummed I didn’t get to tell them about killing Hitler.”

 

Sam groaned loudly. “Dude, come on!”

 

“And here I was trying to have an actual conversation about feelings and stuff.” Jodi rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

 

“I can pull over and book another hotel. We could braid Sam’s hair and do your nails. Watch some chick flicks-”

 

“Dude, you love chick flicks,” Sam teased with the biggest grin he could muster.

 

“Oh come on! I was about to go kamikaze on the darkness when I said that.”

 

“Excuse me?” Jodi cleared her throat.

 

“God’s sister wanted to end the world.” Sam turned around in his seat. “Apparently she was jealous or something and had some weird boner on Dean.”

 

“Can’t blame her.” Dean grinned.

 

“God has a sister?” Jodi asked.

 

“Oh yeah, but they are cool now.” Dean shrugged and eyed her in the rearview mirror. “Amara brought back our mom because I helped her deal with her shit.”

 

“God’s sister brought your mother back?” Jodi huffed. “Wow. I’m surprised, but at the same time I’m not really surprised.”

 

“Oh, Cas accidentally freed Lucifer.” Sam looked over at Dean who was frowning.

 

“You two and Claire keep mention this ‘Cas’, but I’ve never even seen a picture of the guy.”

 

“The guy’s an angel,” Dean commented, “but he is not a dick. Just stupid.” Dean shrugged. “He is family.”

 

“Wow. Is there anything else I need to know?” Jodi asked.

 

“I think that’s it.” Dean pursed his lips and looked at Sam. “Nothing much going on besides Mom and Lucifer.”

 

“That’s not a phrase I ever though I’ve ever hear in a social context.”

 

“Welcome to our world.” Sam joked.

 

“How many times are you going to `welcome’ me to your world?”

 

The boys laughed loudly. The three hunters rode all the way from Canada to Jodi’s home. Claire and Alex were not there yet and wouldn’t be there for another day. Sam and Dean said their goodbyes and hauled ass to the bunker. Dean kept having this odd look on his face. Sam kept staring at him, waiting for the shit to hit the fan.

 

“What, Sam?” Dean glared. “Spit it out.”

 

“Are you sure you are okay, Dean?” Sam asked and sighed when Dean groaned. “I understand if you don’t wanna talk about it, but you said some really disturbing things back at Asa Fox’s funeral.”

 

“Look, Sam, you are right.” Dean waited for Sam to get his high hopes and said, “I don’t wanna talk about. There’s nothing to talk about, because there’s nothing wrong with me right now.”

 

“Is this about Mom or Cas? No? What about Crowley or hell being a mess without either Lucifer or Crowley holding the reins?” Sam saw Dean gripping the steering wheel tighter. “There are so many things that are wrong with you, I-”

 

“Me? I’m the only one with problems?” Dean snapped. “I’m not the one who was tortured by Lucifer, who is free by the way. Mary is our mother too, just in case you hadn’t noticed. She is your problem as well as mine! I understand how the Cas thing may not be your problem, but you could bring yourself to care a bit more about the guy.”

 

“Dean?”

 

“I’m just tired, okay? I’m tired, Sam!” Dean gulped. “This bullshit just keeps happening all around us and we keep getting tangled in everyone else’s business. I’m fucking tired of having to save everyone by myself.”

 

“Dean, you are not alone in this.”

 

Dean turned around to continue screaming, but there was something in Sam’s tone that made him stop cold. Sam’s voice had gone soft. Like he used to do when Dad was around and Sam had yet to grow a pair. It made Dean realize all the things he had said to him.

 

“Shit.” Dean placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry, Sam. I know I’m not alone. I’m so sorry I said that.”

 

“It’s okay, Dean.” Sam nodded and stared straight ahead.

 

“No, it’s not.” Dean shook his head. “That was really shitty coming from me. I’m sorry.” Dean sighed. “I just don’t wanna talk about all this shit.” Dean squeezed Sam’s shoulder before letting go. “We also have the British inquisition to worry about on top of all this family issues and Lucifer.”

 

“Did you just make a history joke?” Sam raised an eyebrow and managed to smile a bit.

 

“What can I say?” Dean grinned. “My nerd baby brother is rubbing off on me.”

 

“Shut up, Jerk.” Sam rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the answering grin.

 

“Bitch.” Dean smiled and kept driving.

 

* * *

 

 

“Kansas is bullshit.” Cyrus complained while driving the rental car.

 

“It’s basically Texas, but worse.” Astrid adjusted her sunglasses on her face and fixed her eyes on the GPS.

 

“Why couldn’t your hunter live somewhere like New York or Florida?”

 

“Ok, first of all: he is not my hunter.” Astrid rolled her eyes. “Take the exit on the right.” She cleared her throat. “Second, how dare you compare New York to Florida?”

 

“I like them both, sue me.” Cyrus pull their Mazda 6 to the right. “And he is definitely your hunter. This is like a crappy romance novel.” Cyrus laughed. “Like Romeo and Juliet with Van Hellsing.”

 

“I’d like to remind you that you are also considered a witch.” Astrid eyed the GPS for the next turn. “I could convince MY hunter to hunt your ass.”

 

“Oh so know he is your hunter?”

 

“Convenient, isn’t it?” Astrid grinned, but then she stopped.

 

“What?” Cyrus struggled to follow the muted GPS and look at Astrid at the same time to gauge her reaction.

 

“He is not near.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I’m saying that he is not in Kansas.” Astrid’s eyes widened. “I mean… he is in his car, but he is not in Kansas.”

 

“For fuck’s sake! All this fucking trouble for the asshole to not-”

 

“Shut up, pendejo.” She slapped his arm and motioned at him to turn right. “He is not here, but he is headed here.”

 

“Then why the hell did you not say that first?” Cyrus huffed and slapped her arm back.

 

“Uhh… oops?” Astrid rubbed her arm. “Look, I’m still getting used to having my brain wired to this guy. Some days I feel like he is breathing down my neck and others I can forget about him for a while.”

 

“I’m so glad I’m not an Empath.”

 

“You are just jealous you are not an especial kind of witch like me.” Astrid fluttered her eyelashes and sat up in her seat to place her chin on Cyrus’ shoulder.

 

“Shut up.” He grinned and pushed her away with a hand on her forehead. “At least I’m a natural.”

 

“So what? I’m a natural too.” Astrid sat back on her seat. “Turn right here.”

 

“Here?”

 

“Yes, here! Fuck! You missed it.” Astrid slapped his arm again.

 

“You made me miss it!” Cyrus gritted his teeth and kept going forward.

 

“We can’t do a U-turn yet and there are no more rights to take.”

 

“I hate you.”

 

“Love you too, bro.”

 

* * *

 

 

“I still feel like I’m forgetting something.” Dean grumbled as he parked the Impala in a motel.

 

“Have you checked your bag?” Sam asked.

 

“Not yet, but I triple checked it back in Canada.” Dean rubbed his face.

 

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” Sam shrugged. “Is it a someone or a something?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

* * *

 

 

The Rottmanns had booked a hotel room for a week in Smith county. It was fairly close to the places they needed to go to for business, a decent enough shopping mall, and Lebanon.

 

“Astrid, remember the DIC group?” Cyrus propped his feet up on Astrid’s lap. They were sharing a bed because the other one was filled with luggage and grocery bags.

 

“Yeah, we work with them in Brazil and El Salvador.” Astrid checked closed her Facebook on her phone and tried to roll over to catch a glimpse at Cyrus’s laptop.

 

“Well, these guys somehow found out that we are interested in making our ink or polymers here in ye old Kansas.” Cyrus closed his laptop before Astrid could see it. “Just got an email that they are scouting the same places we are checking out in Smith county and etc.” Cyrus placed the laptop on the floor. “We are going to have to hurry up with this instead of running after your hunter.”

 

“Ugh, but I’m so done with this.” Astrid went back to her previous spot. “He is really angry and sad all the time. Have I talked about his drinking problems? He drinks a lot!”

 

“He is not even in this state, what are you complaining about?” Cyrus grimaced.

 

“I don’t know. I just feel like I need to complain about life in general, wish for death to come for me, and eat some pie and burritos.” Astrid placed a pillow over her head and groaned loud enough for Cyrus to pull a face.

 

“Eww, you don’t even like burritos.” Cyrus stretched his arm and snatched the pillow away from her face.

 

“Well, this guy does!” Astrid sat up. “I need Chinese food. Come on, I’ll pay.” Astrid pushed his feet from her lap and stood up.

 

Astrid snatched a jacket from the floor and put it over her summer dress. She fished some brown boots from her luggage put on her glasses. She urged Cyrus to hurry up and snatched the keys from him.

 

“You are so excited for dinner. Is your hunter hungry or something?” Cyrus grinned.

 

“Yes, and I’m just as hungry as he is.” Astrid pulled the bedroom door open and placed the do not disturb sign on the doorknob. “I mean, I’m always hungry, but he is always hungry too. It’s like I’m pregnant.”

 

“Are you sure you are not?” Cyrus put his shoes on and grabbed his wallet and phone.

 

“That’s nasty, no. Don’t even say that.” Astrid grimaced and pulled him out of their hotel room.

 

* * *

 

The Winchester brothers were lounging in a motel room not unlike the Rottmann siblings. Sam was on his laptop looking for…. Looking for whatever he looked for when he was bored. Dean was still getting his sea legs on a motel bed. He was feeling oddly at ease, but he still felt like he was forgetting something highly important.

 

“Sam,” Dean called, “we should order some Chinese food.”

 

“Weren’t you whining about burritos like five minutes ago?” Sam raised an eyebrow from behind his laptop.

 

“I changed my mind. Plus, you prefer Chinese food to Mexican.” Dean shrugged.

 

“True.” Sam closed his laptop without turning it off and grabbed his jacket. “Come on, I saw a place earlier.”

 

“My treat.” Dean smiled pleasantly and stood up from the bed. He handed Sam his jacket and opened the door for him.

 

“Uhh… okay?” Sam slowly put on the jacket and raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“What?” Dean stopped and looked at Sam with wide eyes. He looked downright adorable with his big green eyes and his lower lip between his teeth.

 

“Nothing.” Sam bit his tongue to refrain from saying something that would make him pay for dinner.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Dean was smilling and humming quietly as he drove towards the general direction of Kansas. This, of course, made Sam worry.

 

“Dean, are you sure you are okay?” Sam asked carefully.

 

“Peachy!” Dean shook his head. “I’m feeling great Sam! I don’t know what was in that Chinese food, but I swear to God it did wonders.”

 

“You sure?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “You look odd… you haven’t complained about the road or anything in the last two days. Did anything else happen back in Canada that I should know off?”

 

“What? No, I’m fine, dude.” Dean pursed his lips. “I mean, I probably fucked up a chance to get a good deal out of Billie.” He shrugged.

 

“What do you mean?” Sam knew part of what happened in Asa Fox’s funeral. Dean had been locked out of the house by the Demon’s wards. Sam didn’t exactly know how, but Dean had somehow convinced the reaper to get him inside that house.

 

“Billie said it was a one-time only thing.” Dean shrugged. “I’m not saying I regret taking it, but I can’t feel but wonder if there’s going to be a time where we really need that freebie.”

 

Sam remained silent for a long time.

 

“I didn’t even think about it. I just jumped at the opportunity to save you.” Dean shrugged. “Apart from that small fucked up part, I’m feeling fine. It’s like I can relax a bit.”

 

“Dean, you never relax.” Sam didn’t want to admit it, but Dean did look better. Something had to be wrong.

 

“I know, right?” Dean sighed and heard a distinct voice coming from the radio. “I love this song!” He grinned and turned the volume up. He ignored Sam’s groan and sang along to Civil War by Guns N’ Roses. “What we’ve got here is…. Failure to communicate.” He repeated along with the voice.

 

“Wow.” Sam blinked once and twice and tried his best to ignore Dean’s so called singing.

* * *

 

 

“Ooh I love this song!” Astrid slapped Cyrus’s hands away from the radio before he could change it. “Some man, you just can’t reach.” She repeated in a mockery of the voice at the beginning of the song.

 

“Astrid,” Cyrus complained and tried to change the radio again.

 

“MY HANDS ARE TIED!” Astrid screamed, completely off key and laughing like a mad man.

 

“Astrid please.”

 

“Dude, it’s Guns N’ Roses.”

 

“I just really hope your hunter has a better taste in music.” Cyrus lowered the volume of the radio to listen to the now unmuted GPS.

 

“I wouldn’t bet on it.” Astrid grinned. “This asshole has a fine taste of music.”

 

“How do you know?” Cyrus almost swerved the car in favor for glaring at her.

 

“He is listening to this song.” Astrid began tapping her fingers against her thighs. “This is the only part of his personality that doesn’t suck. He is like… mentally constipated of feelings and is throwing all his shit to me.” Astrid slapped her hands to her leg. “He is envious of his little brother and hates his mom. He tries to convince himself that his love for them is strong enough to fights those feelings, but I can’t help it. He hates himself so much it stopped being pitiful two weeks ago.”

 

“Astrid, you are ranting again.”

 

“Sorry.” She looked down at her hands. “I just need to break this link.”

 

“Have you figured out what it is?” Cyrus stopped in front of a factory surrounded by high walls and an electric fence. “Is there any change of him being a familiar.”

 

“I tried dragging energy out of him and only gave myself a nightmare.” Astrid glared. “He also feels pretty human to me.” She sighed. “Well a human that could learn magic if he wanted.”

 

“What if he tried a bonding spell and accidentally got you tied to him?”

 

“In that case,” Astrid began, “you and I both know how to cut him off, don’t we?”

 

“I’ll need to buy a shovel and a rope on our next stop.” Cyrus commented as the guards let them into the factory.

 

“I’ve got rope.” Astrid offered.

 

“Not even gonna ask why.”

 

“Don’t be nasty.” Astrid slammed the door open. She fixed her suit jacket and walked straight to the office building where a man was waiting for her. “Mr. Talley, so good of you to receive us.” She smiled at a bald man with a mustache that screamed cow boy to her.

 

“Anything for a Rottmann! How’s your Daddy? Business okay over there in Brazil?” The man shook her hand and then turned to Cyrus. “My! You both have grown up so much.” He grinned. “Was that Guns N’ Roses I heard?”

 

“Oh yes!” Astrid grinned at her brother. “My brother, Cyrus hates it, but I took Dad to their concert in Costa Rica a while ago.” Astrid politely let herself be led all through the building and into a conference room. She was well aware of how Cyrus hated small talk and took the initiative.

 

“Oh dear, what a fine taste in music.” Mr. Talley led them further into the building. “I’m retiring soon, so I need to know where all this concerts are being held.”

 

“Dad and I were planning to go to their concert in California in a month. Perhaps you could join us sir?” her offer was likely to not be taken into consideration, but it was all in the appearance of being the kind and wealthy rich girl who would take her clients anywhere if it meant softening them up for business.

 

“My daughter never plans these sort of things. I wouldn’t’ like to impose in your family time, dear.” The man sat down at the head of the table.

 

“Nonsense, Mr. Talley.” She sat on his right, with Cyrus choosing the seat next to her and placing his suitcase on top of the table; a gentle reminder of what this meeting was about.

 

“Call me Richard, dear.” The man smiled and pressed a button on the table to call in a secretary.

 

“Of course, Richard.” Astrid nodded.

 

* * *

 

 

Sam picked up a newspaper on a Gas stop. He skimmed through it for any possible hunts before actually delving into its contents. Dean usually hated reading newspapers unless he had a purpose. On the other hand, Sam loved the local section. He stopped at a new article on economics. There was a picture of an old man smiling next to a blonde man and a brunette woman.

 

“The Rottmann family in Smith County,” Sam read out loud the title of article. He didn’t know who the family was, but that wasn’t what interested him. Sam’s eyes focused on the bracelets the woman and the younger man wore on their left wrists. They were filled with matching wiccan charms and the beads looked like clear quartz and some kind of black opal or tourmaline; something told him this wasn’t simple obsidian. He couldn’t see the charms due to the low resolution, but the intent was clear.

 

“What are you stressing over, Sam?” Dean appeared out of the blue, holding a pair of coffee cups.

 

“Looks like we have a witch family.” Sam accepted the cup and showed Dean the newspaper.

 

“From left to right,” Dean read. “Cyrus Rottmann, Richard Talley, and Astrid Rottmann.” Dean narrowed his eyes. “I don’t understand why you- oh”

 

“Yeah, if bodies start dropping we know who to gank.” Sam allowed Dean to continue reading the article. “Are they British?”

 

“Nope,” Dean replied and sipped his coffee. “It says here that the Rottmanns are a wealthy family with connections in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and now Kansas.” Dean let out a deep breath. “Then it goes on about how awesome the brothers are. Mr. Richie Rich here is a chemical engineer while his sister is the actual businesswoman out of the two.” Dean frowned. “I can’t see the bracelets very well, but I’m betting on money charms, protection charms, and other witch bullshit on them. Probably made out of clear quartz and pyrate.”

 

“Pyrate?” Sam narrowed. “Yes, it’s used in black magic spells for money.  You think this two are on the black magic business?”

 

“I don’t know, Sammy. Why don’t we ask them?”

 

Despite the threat of a couple of black witches roaming Lebanon, Sam and Dean took their sweet time in traveling to the bunker. They even picked up a hunt in a nearby city. Dean continued feeling like he had forgotten something. Sam even forced him to call up Castiel. He did so while driving the Impala. The call had been mostly infuriating for Dean. Castiel had asked a thousand odd questions.

 

“Have you been bitten by any type of mice this week?” Castiel asked him.

 

“No.”

 

“What about cats, frogs, dogs, or birds?”

 

“I haven’t been bitten by shit.” Dean rolled his eyes.

  
“Have you dealt with any Alphas?”

 

“No, why?” Dean frowned. “What could an Alpha do to me?”

 

“Nothing to worry you.” Castiel sighed into the phone. “Are there any symptoms to-”

 

“Dude, I’m not sick. Sam is just being a bitch.” Dean snapped into the phone.

 

“Shut up, jerk.” Sam glared at Dean who had forgotten they were both in the Impala. “Put him on speaker.”

 

“Fine.” Dean removed the phone from between his ear and shoulder. “Cas, I’m putting you on speaker.” He managed to change the setting for the call while not sending the car into a ditch. “Ok, we are good now.”

 

“Hello Sam.” Castiel’s voice filled the Impala.

 

“Hey, Cas,” Sam said. “Listen, I’m not being overdramatic.” He eyed Dean. “It’s just that Dean has been acting really off character for a while. It has been growing ever since Mom came back, but I’m not sure that’s it.” Sam grabbed the phone from Dean’s hand to allow him to drive easily. “It’s like someone put a spell on him and his… uhh… feelings are all over the place.”

 

“Seriously? You want to talk about my feelings with Dr. Phil?”

 

“I do agree with your observation, Sam.” Castiel hummed. “Dean did talk about his feelings about his mother a while ago to me. He never does that.”

 

“You talked to Cas about Mom?” Sam raised his eyebrows.

 

“Dude, that was supposed to stay between us,” Dean hissed.

 

“I apologize for breaking your trust, Dean. You must know that I did it because I’m worried about you.”

 

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Guys stop. I’m fine!” Dean avoided eye contact with Sam as he said so. “We haven’t even been dealing with witches or any other weird shit in this last few weeks.” They hadn’t and it was weird. The most dangerous thing they had dealt with besides the demon was- “Holly shit what if the MI6 did something to me?”

 

 “I don’t understand that reference.”

 

“Ok, but why would they make you…. Uhh,” Sam hesitated, “make you happy.”

 

“Is Dean… happy?” Castiel asked, probably frowning at the phone.

 

“Well, I don’t know what this is, but Dean looks pretty relaxed.”

 

“Well, fuck I’m sorry for trying to be less stressed.” Dean’s voice became stronger. “God forbid Dean Winchester is feeling well enough.” Dean slammed his hand against the dash board, scaring Sam into almost dropping the phone. “Can we just drop this?”

 

Sam hesitated to answer, but Castiel beat him to it. “Dean, Sam and I don’t mean you any harm at all. We are worried, and it’s not an unfounded fear for your safety.”

 

“I’m sorry guys. I’m acting like a girl,” Dean admitted. “I don’t know why I can’t just accept that you two care about me and WOAH where the fuck did that come from?” Dean swerved the car when he stepped on the accelerator and almost slammed the Impala into a USV.

 

“I think I see what you mean, Sam.” Castiel cleared his throat. “I can come by the bunker with-”

 

“With fucking Crowley?” Dean snapped. “I can’t believe you are working alone with that bastard after all the shit we’ve been through. We are family, Cas. We work things with each other not with fucking demons.”

 

“Dean?” Castiel asked.

 

“Cas, get your ass to the bunker.” Dean grabbed the phone from Sam and finished the call. “Sam?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I suggest you shut up unless you want to start a chick flick.”

 

“Okay, Dean.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gore and something close to non-con in this chapter, if you'd like to skip it just scroll to the next line break.  
> The latin is real by the way.

Astrid could feel hands running up and down her body, gentle at first. The hands barely touched her skin, a ghost of a sensation. They ran over the most sensible parts over her body; the soles of her feet, her inner tights, her abdomen, her lower back, her neck, her biceps. Astrid wanted to curl up into a ball and keep the hands away from her. When she tried to do so, a piercing shot of pain struck her hand. Astrid couldn’t see nothing but darkness, but she tried to catch a glimpse at what was in her hand. A meat hook had been stabbed into her palm. Astrid could feel the metal crushing bone and ripping muscle apart.

 

She screamed.

 

The hands slowly became more forceful. There were too many hands to count, but they took turns assessing her skin like a prized dog on a show. Astrid struggled to keep the hands away from her, but more hooks dug into the skin oh her remaining hand, her feet, her ankles, her shoulders, below her arms. A chain was wrapped around her neck and waist.

 

The hands on her skin became claws. Scratching at her like wild animals. Astrid screamed and continued to struggle. There were no more chains coming for her. There were no more hooks added to her skin. There were no more hands joining the claws. Instead of all of this, laughter erupted from somewhere behind her. She couldn’t see. She didn’t know if she was hanging up right or not.

 

The hands that had become claws on her skin stopped and dug into her skin. Astrid screamed. The claws turned into sharpened surgical knives and dull machete like knives. Astrid continued to scream as the knives dug into her and ripped her apart in slow torture. There was heat all around her. The smell of sulfur was enough to make her gag in between pants and screams.

 

She screamed.

 

* * *

 

 

“Astrid wake up!” Cyrus held her face between his large elegant hands. “Astrid open your eyes.”

 

“Stop.” Astrid moaned, her eyes closed and body trembling. “Please stop.” Astrid woke up. She looked deep into her brother’s brown eyes and saw his fear. “Cyrus?” she asked. “Why are you here?” Astrid placed a hand on her throat. It felt raw, like claws had rasped her vocal cords.

 

“You are safe. You are with me. We are in fucking Kansas.” Cyrus forced Astrid into a seating position. “What did you see? You’ve never done something like this. Astrid, why won’t you answer me? Please, say something.”

 

“I was in hell.” Astrid muttered. She could still feel the claws and knives digging into her. Not like a memory, but as a real sensation. Like she was still dreaming about it. Maybe she was still in the dream or maybe- “the hunter,” she whispered low enough to be inaudible.

 

“What?”

 

“He is still asleep.” Astrid closed her eyes. “He can’t wake up, Cyrus, he can’t escape them.”

 

“Who? Escape from whom?” Cyrus held Astrid by the shoulders to keep her upright.

 

“There was a lot of Sulphur,” she murmured, more as an afterthought than as a real answer. Her body was shaking and tears ran down her cheeks.

 

“Demons?” Cyrus asked her, but Astrid was closing her eyes.

 

Astrid closed her eyes. She straightened her back and placed her hands on her knees. Her clear quartz necklace and bracelet where still on her. She had refused to take them off ever since she began living inside the hunter’s brain. With her eyes closed, she found the bond to the hunter.

 

“Astrid, don’t do this.”

 

“I have to.” She opened her eyes. “I can still feel him fighting and being torn apart by them.” She felt teeth, knives, claws, toy Taser guns, needles, and even nails digging into her skin repeatedly. 

 

Astrid concentrated. There was a link somewhere deep in her. It felt like it was connected to her spinal cord and it ran up her brain and dug itself into her own soul. The link was strong enough for her to take a hold of it and tug as hard as she could. Cyrus and the room she was in slowly began to become darker and darker.

 

She was in a different room. It was grey and cold. Her feet felt the smooth cold concrete that covered the walls and the ceiling as well. Slowly, more details came into view: a dresser, a door, guns on the dresser and hanging from a wall with exposed red brick, a bed, and a small desk with a vintage phone, a lamp, and pictures of a boy and his mother. Astrid turned her focus to the bed.

 

A man, probably older than her, was laying on top of the covers with his face hidden by a white pillow. He was wearing big work boots on his feet, old jeans that didn’t do justice to his legs, a black T-shirt, and a flannel shirt. The man was still, his body frozen. He was barely breathing through his nightmare, his muscles tense with fear and adrenaline.

 

Astrid could feel the laughter closer to her. It was nasal and high pitched. It kept repeating a name, but her powers as an Empath refused to let her a name through this kind of spells. There was a rule about the power of names that she had to stick by whenever she tried to crawl into someone’s mind like this. Her teacher had once called it sleep walking, but to her it felt more personal than that.

 

The man groaned in his sleep and it didn’t take Astrid long enough to figure out why. She felt like a fucking wolf or some bull shit cross between bear and pit bull had dug its teeth below her jawline. Astrid screamed loudly. It was the kind of screams that Cyrus would be hearing back in their hotel room. The man tensed when she screamed. Perhaps he had felt her screams. Astrid dropped the idea and concentrated on the bond that tied him to this man. She couldn’t break it by herself. It would like trying to rip out her own spinal cord and a chunk of her brain. Instead, she held on tightly and tried to pull the nightmare out of him. It was like trying to catch a fish in a bowl. Not exactly easy because the fish tried to escape and his body was slippery and wet.

 

When she finally held it between her hands, Astrid ripped it away from the man and ripped apart the dream before it could touch her mind. When the thing withered and died between her fingers, the man’s body relaxed and began to wake up slowly. Astrid sighed in relief and returned to her body.

 

“Astrid?” Cyrus jumped from his seat on the floor when Astrid opened her eyes and focused them on him.

 

“I need painkillers,” Astrid croaked.

 

“I don’t have any.” Cyrus had given her the last of the painkillers the last time the hunter got into a fight with his brother.

 

“I have some Dorival left from El Salvador, and bought some Midol yesterday.” Astrid yawned. “Pass me the purple box with the girly font.” Astrid pointed at her bag and Cyrus dug into it. Astrid barely had enough energy to pop 3 pills into her mouth. The recommended dose was 2, but she didn’t care right now. “Thanks. Imma sleep now.”

 

“I’m gonna kill the hunter when I see him.”

 

“I touched the link….” Astrid laid back on her bed. “It’s a bond. I can’t rip it off, or it would kill me.” It felt solid like warm leather smelling oddly of whiskey and jasmine. Astrid knew the jasmine came from her, her mother used to love those when she was young and it had left a mark on Astrid ever since her mom showed her how to take care of the plant.

 

“So?” Cyrus asked, drawing her out her thoughts.

 

“We need to kill him before I kill myself trying to stop the pain.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Dean woke up slowly. His mind felt like it had gone through hell and then through soft firm hands. He groaned and crawled out of bed. He didn’t bother with doing any part of his morning ritual. He needed coffee, painkillers, pancakes, and whiskey in whatever older he could do them. Dean tried not to fall down on his face on his way to the kitchen. His legs felt weak, and his entire body felt like he had been ripped apart. It wasn’t the worst nightmare he had ever had, but it was the first time he didn’t get to the end of his nightmare. He usually got to see his limbs ripped apart by Hell Hounds.

 

Sam was already in the kitchen waiting for the coffee machine to do its job. He had a newspaper in his hand a couple of empty mugs sitting on the counter. He lifted his free hand up in acknowledgement and then raised his head. Sam immediately frowned and gasped. He knew what Dean’s state meant. The lingering pain of the nightmares courtesy of hell was obvious on his brother’s body.

 

“Nightmare?” Sam asked despite knowing the answer. It was a way to gauge Dean’s inclination on talking.

 

“Yes, the same one.” Dean dragged his exhausted body to the counter and pulled out a bottle of painkillers. “But there was something different.” Dean walked to the fridge and got out the mostly empty orange juice bottle. He put the pill on his tongue and then proceeded to chug the last of the juice. “I didn’t wake up like I usually do. It was like… like the dream was stopped by someone else and I woke up slowly.” Dean looked at the empty juice bottle and then at Sam. “It’s weird, isn’t it? There’s something wrong with me besides the usual crap.”

 

“Maybe you are just getting better at this.” Sam tried to look positive as he said that, but his eyebrows refused to stop frowning. So Sam grimaced at Dean.

 

“Yesterday you were close enough to sticking an EMF up my ass and using holly oil for eye drops. Cas is worried too and I don’t know what’s so wrong with me.” Dean took a deep breath and sat down at the table. “It does feel like I’m getting better, but that I’m also paying a price.”

  
“A price?” Sam asked. He turned around to fix Dean a mug of warm dark coffee and walked to the table. “Dean, what price?”

 

“I don’t know, Sam.” Dean rubbed his chest unconsciously.

 

Sam’s eyes immediately focused on the movement, but chose not to comment on it.

* * *

 

 

Cyrus was sitting outside the door to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Astrid was throwing up everything she had eaten in her lifetime. She was convinced she could see the mashed potatoes she ate when she was ten. After passing out from the exhaustion of getting inside the hunter’s mind. Astrid woke up with a strong headache and the worst nausea she had experienced.

 

“Astrid, you can’t go out like this. Let’s reschedule the meeting with Talley.” Cyrus had wrapped a scarf around his nose to fight off the smell of puke. He had a bottle of water and some pills waiting for Astrid in one hand and his phone in the other. “We can tell him we had an urgent family business to attend.”

 

“No, if we do that Richard is going to call Dad and ask him about it.” Astrid rested her head against the closed door, waiting for the next time she threw up. “You know Dad… he can’t lie for shit.”

 

“Yeah, you are right.” Cyrus scratched his hair as he heard the sound of Astrid flushing the toilet. “Hey, do you think the anti-hangover spell will work for this?”

 

“That’s the only healing spell you know, isn’t it?” Astrid reached out to unlock the door for Cyrus.

 

“I know one for stomach bugs.” Cyrus sat up and entered the bathroom. “You are the healer, not me.”

 

“Whatever.” Astrid let Cyrus pull her up to her feet. She washed her face and brushed her teeth before allowing Cyrus to lead her to the bed. “If this goes wrong, it’s your fault.”

 

“The only side effects are pig tails and frog heads.” Cyrus grinned.

 

* * *

 

 

“So get this.” Sam flipped the newspaper open in front of Dean. “Apparently the witches are signing deals to acquire a new polymer factory from the guy from yesterday’s picture. This will be happening today at the Hyperion.”

 

“What’s a Hyperion?” Dean asked with his mouth full of pancakes.

 

“The factory they are buying.” Sam made a face of disapproval at seeing Dean’s exaggerated amount of maple syrup coating his pancakes and chin. “It doesn’t say anything else about the brothers, but apparently the previous owner of the factory is suddenly retiring and selling everything to the family.”

 

“Way to jump ship.” Dean sipped his coffee. “So what, you think the kids bewitched the man into throwing the house out of the window?”

 

“Could be, it says here that the man has a daughter uninterested in the business.” Sam frowned at the newspaper.

 

“Why?” Dean asked.

 

“Because she is an actress.” Sam raised his eyebrows to express how impressed he was.

 

“Well, that sounds witchy.” Dean sat back on his chair “How far is this Hyperion place?”

 

“About an hour from here.” Sam combed his fingers through his long hair and closed the newspaper. “There’s nothing else in there, not even a picture so don’t bother.” He stood up from his chair and picked up his plates and empty mug.

 

Dean hummed and continued to stuff his face with pancakes.

* * *

 

 

“Stand up and start jumping around.” Cyrus commanded her.

 

“Why would I do that?” Astrid raised an eyebrow.

 

“Humor me.” Cyrus took a step back to give her space to move around.

 

“Fine.” Astrid stood up and took a couple of reluctant jumps. “Oh!” She jumped again. “I didn’t throw up!”

 

“I’m a genius!” Cyrus grinned and led Astrid to the bathroom. “Now shower and do whatever you do to your face to look less hideous, but hurry up cause I need to take a shower too. We said 10am and we are gonna be late if you don’t get out of there ASAP.”

 

Astrid took her shower, half blow dried her hair, and applied some makeup to cover the dark circles around her eyes. Cyrus was already banging the door like a kid by the time Astrid excited the bathroom in a bath robe. She ignored Cyrus’ annoyed comments in French and started to look around for a decent semi causal outfit.

 

Cyrus didn’t even towel dry his hair when he was already putting on a pair of khaki pants and a button up shirt. He groaned when he realized Astrid was wearing a similar shirt and rapidly undresses. Astrid put on a causal blazer and some comfortable high heels and dragged Cyrus out of the room.

 

They arrived at the Hyperion five minutes early. All the family lawyers and the company lawyers were already seated in a conference room to prepare the paper work. The Rottmann brothers had spent weeks fighting with the lawyers and Richard until they finally managed to get to an agreement. They had started negotiations way before they had even arrived at Kansas.

 

Cyrus’ spell had done wonders for Astrid. It had completely numbed her nausea and the link with the hunter. She was able to baffle the lawyers with her well planned bullshit and convince Richard to take the trip to California for the concert. Cyrus was the strongest opposition to Richard. He knew what the company was really worth and he knew what selling it would entail to the current workers and the business partners of the company. The meeting lasted until 7pm. The Rottmann brothers had ordered lunch from a local catering service for the meeting. Cyrus would like to think that the good food made Richard more pliant. Astrid had actually tucked a hex bag under the table to make things smoother.

 

At last the lawyers promised to fix the contracts and have them ready in a week. Cyrus and Astid headed out to the large parking lot, commenting on what cars they liked and which ones they didn’t. Cyrus was basically drooling over a vintage black muscle car parked far from them. Astrid didn’t have the energy to acknowledge him.

 

“I just need this to be over.” Astrid pulled out the hex bag from her back pocket and burned it with her own pyromancy magic.

 

“What was that?” Cyrus frowned at the hex bag.

 

“Just a little peacemaker.” She petted his cheek. “I was draining me, please drive me to the nearest Chipotle.”

 

“There are no Chipotles near us.” Cyrus chuckled. “I was thinking that the room service burgers weren’t quite bad.” Cyrus entered the car and waited for Astrid to do the same. “Man, I’m tired.”

 

“Preach.” Astrid let her head hit the window and she closed her eyes.

 

She woke up when Cyrus slapped her arm.

 

“Dude!” Astrid groaned. “What the fuck?”

 

“We are being followed.” Cyrus pointed at the back. “The muscle car from the parking lot. They look like hunters to me, wanna give them a little scare?” Cyrus grinned and began to lead the car to an empty field.

 

“Sure. I could fake puking… gives you a reason to pull over.” Astrid pressed her stomach. “Ok, maybe not so fake at all.”

 

“Oh Jesus!” Cyrus pulled over. He stuck his hand inside the glovebox and pocketed to pyro hex bags. This hex bags worked like miniature grandees when infused with his pyromancy magic. The brothers had learned the skill in Brazil.

 

Astrid pulled a long line of rope from the backseat and hid it with the waistband of her pants and the blazer. “I’m good.” Astrid let Cyrus help her out of the car purely for theatrics’ sake. She tried to ignore the car parking behind them with the headlights off and leaned down next to the rental car.

 

Cyrus acted like he was freaking out. “Are you okay? What can I do for you? Do you need water? I can get us to the next hospital.” Cyrus stood up and looked at the two men approaching them. “Hey, who are you?” Cyrus heard the click of a gun.

 

Astrid stood up and grabbed the rope. “Ligabis ea inimicis meis!” she shouted.

 

The rope on her hand shoot out quicker than expected. It scared the men enough to make one of them press the trigger tightly. The bullet was lost in the empty field. The men screamed as the rope tied them together and held their arms in front of them.

 

“So that’s why you carried the rope.” Cyrus nodded and walked around the car to get a couple of flashlights from the back. “Here.” He gave one to Astrid and lit up his own to look at the men squirming on the dirt. “Nice to meet you here, gentleman.”

 

“Fuck, I’m gonna puke.” Astrid turned off the flashlight and went around the car to throw up without being seen.

  

“Hmm, yummy.” Cyrus grimaced. “I’m baffled by your manners dear sister.”

 

“Shut the fuck up, will you?” Astrid opened the passenger door to fish a water bottle out of her purse. She spits the water and then gulps some more. “Now that that’s over. Who are you two?” Astrid turned on her flashlight too close to their faces. The men both shut their eyes and groaned. When they struggle, the rope tightens around them.

 

“What the hell is this?” The man with the short hair glared at her.

 

Astrid pointed the flashlight right on his face, the man’s green eyes looking pale and slightly scary. “Well it’s a rope, obviously.” Astrid rolled her eyes. “How fucking dense do you have to be to not know that? Anyway, who are you two idiots and why are you following us around?”

 

“I’m sorry ma’am, we- we are reporters from the-”

 

“Bullshit.” Cyrus took out his hexbag and tied it to the rope. “You hunters never fail to impress me.” He stood back up and raised his hand in preparation to snap his fingers.

 

“Bite me, bitch!”

 

“Fine.” Cyrus shrugged and was about to snap his fingers when Astrid gasped.

 

“Holly shit! Winchesters.” Astrid gawked. “Cyrus one of these two is the guy.” Astrid placed a hand on the brother’s heads.

 

“Get away from us, witch!” The man with the short hair snapped.

 

Astrid felt waves of anger coming from him as well as his brother.

 

“Fucking hell! Out every fucking hunter in the existence you had to be linked to a Winchester?”

 

“Shaggy here is Sam Winchester, and Ken doll is Dean Winchester.” Astrid tightened her hold on the men’s heads. “Shit!” Astrid let go. “What the fuck kind of ritual did you two buckos pulled off a couple weeks ago?” Astrid untied the hex bag from the rope and tucked it into her bag. “I should just fucking kill you both right now.”

 

“You wouldn’t be the first one to try.” Dean chuckled.

 

“Wait, wait, what ritual?” Sam asked. “We haven’t done any rituals.” Sam quickly tried to remember any unusual rituals, but couldn’t remember doing anything unorthodox ever since Amara disappeared.

 

“Like hell you didn’t!” Cyrus walked over to kick both Sam and Dean with his designer shoes. He tried not to laugh when both Sam and Dean flailed and squirmed as they fell on their sides. The rope moved with them to keep them back to back with their hands in front of them in a prayer like gesture.

 

“Look, geniuses.” Astrid didn’t give herself time to appreciate her magic rope. “We just want to break whatever you did and go back to our thing.” Astrid was feeling the hunter’s anger and exasperation as if it was her own.

 

“Dean-” Sam wanted to speak, but of course Dean couldn’t shut up for a second.

 

“Lady,” Dean began, “we don’t know what the hell you are talking about and we can’t let you go back to bewitching millionaires to make yourself wealthier.” Dean could feel himself getting angrier and angrier the longer he remained tied to Sam.

 

“Dean.” This time Sam was interrupted by the witch who was looking more flustered by the second.

 

“You are in no place to be demanding things from me!” Astrid shouted back. “I could just let the rope get tighter and tighter until it cuts through your internal organs!” Astrid tightened a fist and the rope obeyed the silent command to get a tighter hold on them. “It would be easy, but messy. It would be fucking worth the effort of having to clean your guts off the dirt.”

 

“Astrid.” Cyrus shared a look with Sam. They both looked spooked and out of their depths with their older siblings trying to bite each other’s head off.

 

Dean growled, actually growled. “If anyone is going to be dealing with a corpse, it ain’t gonna be you, lady.” He grinned when the witch bristled and took a step closer to him.

 

Cyrus saw the movement as well and raised a hand to stop her. “Astrid, I swear to God if you keep this up I’m telling grandma about your sexuality.” He knew it was low, the lowest he could ever go, but It worked.

 

Astrid froze and turned around. “If you tell her I’m bi. I’m telling about the reason you learned German.”

 

“Oh come on! I was a kid and I was really stupid.” Cyrus frowned.

 

“You thought Hitler looked like a nice guy! How fucking stupid could you be?” Astrid deflated and looked down at Sam and Dean.

 

Sam was staring at them with wide eyes, he was trying to reach out for a knife that Astrid hadn’t seen before. Astrid rolled her eyes and grabbed the knife from the dirt and hurled it towards the empty field. Dean was still huffing in his spot. His skin was red with anger and he was struggling to get free.

 

“Hey, asshole!” Astrid kicked Dean’s leg. “That’s not the way to get free.” She rolled her eyes and took squatted to be closer to his face. She was glad that Cyrus was holding the flashlight, because she would have probably dropped it when she focused on the man’s perfect plump lips and adorably enraged green eyes. “Uhh…”

 

“Astrid, should I just kill them?” Cyrus raised an eyebrow when Astrid blushed and looked away. “I don’t even know if killing him would do the trick.”

 

“What?” Dean gawked.

 

“Dean, I think we need to call, Cas.” Sam huffed. He was trying out every breathing relaxation technique que knew to maybe get the rope loose enough to escape.

 

“Always a step in front of you, Sammy.” Dean said as he continued to squirm.

 

“Cas?” Astrid repeated. “Well shit, guess we better move this party to another place.” She stood up and looked at her brother. “Do you have anywhere in mind?”

 

“I have a couple places.”

 

“Great!” Astrid grinned. “Languens, intermortuus.”

 

The rope curled around Sam and Dean’s neck until they both passed out.

 

“I’ll put them in the rental.” Cyrus opened the back seat door. He was going to make Sam and Dean sit up and look normal with a glamour. He pated the short haired hunter’s pockets and got the keys to the muscle car.

 

“Nice.” Astrid smiled and looked back at the Impala. “This two have a good taste in cars.”

 

“What are we gonna do with them?” Cyrus asked before hauling Dean up. “Help me with his legs.”

 

“We can’t kill the Winchesters.” Astrid shook her head. “When I touched them… I saw how hard they work to be good and help people. They fucking stopped the Apocalypse and did other important stuff…” she trailed off, remembering all the rumors she had heard about the Winchesters in the witch community.

 

“And?”

 

“And I think it would kill me to kill him.” Astrid helped Cyrus arrange Dean. “The bond is really strong, Cyrus.” She sighed. “I thought it was only strong on my side because of what I am, but he has the bond wrapped around his spinal cord and brain as well.”

 

“Well fuck.”

 

“You read my mind.” Astrid stopped and then smiled. “Are you sure you are not an Empath?” she teased.

 

“Shut up.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Jesus Christ! This guy weights a ton!” Cyrus complained while trying to carry an unconscious Sam Winchester inside a small empty warehouse owned by the Hyperion company.

 

“Shut up and walk faster!” Astrid shouted, lifting Sam’s feet.

 

They slowly dragged the brothers to a couple of metal chairs on the warehouse. Rain began hitting the old warehouse’s roof just as the brothers finished. Astrid re-enchanted the rope to tie them up together with their hands once again in front of them. Neither sibling bothered to check their pockets in search of knives or other weapons. The rope was smartly wrapped around their arms, chests, arms, necks, wrists, and even fingers to prevent any form of scape. Cyrus never wants to think about where exactly did Astrid learn her bondage skills.

 

“So.” Cyrus cleaned his throat. “What now?”

 

“I have absolutely no idea,” Astrid confessed and sat on a wooden crate. “I can’t kill this guy. He is like the closest thing to a hero and the world definitely needs good hunters.”

 

“What makes you think he is a good hunter?” Cyrus sat beside her.

 

“He seems to think so.” Astrid shrugged. “Plus, you and I have heard the rumors about them.”

 

“Can you try breaking the link?” Cyrus asked just in time for Dean to groan. “Sleeping beauty is awake!” Cyrus chuckled.

 

“Hey, asshole why don’t you stick that smile in your-”

 

“Could you both please shut the fuck up and let me figure out what the hell is going on?” Astrid sat up and dragged a lone chair to sit in front of Dean. “Cyrus, can you do me a favor?” Astrid saw Cyrus nod and stand up. “Put on your gloves. I’m gonna try something and if anyone looks like they are about to die please drag me away from him.” Astrid prepared herself to touch Dean’s forehead.

 

“Sure,” Cyrus replied putting on his leather gloves.

 

“How about no?” Dean started struggling and moving his head away from Astrid’s hand. “Why don’t you explain what’s going on and me and my brother can try to help you?”

 

As if on cue Sam stirred. “What’s going on?” he asked with a groan.

 

“Hocus Pocus over here doesn’t want to say.” Dean nodded his head towards Astrid.

 

“Look, asshat, I’m not trying to kill you.” Astrid hesitated and added: “unless I need to.” She shrugged. “I don’t like killing people, but I wouldn’t mind killing you.” Astrid sighed. “The thing is: I think there’s been a huge misunderstanding.” She glared when Dean scoffed. “One of you accidently bonded your mind to mine in the most stupid way possible.”

 

“Go on,” Dean prompted. He was trying not to freak out and think about what that really meant.

 

“It means,” Astrid said, reading his mind, “that I can feel all your fucking emotions, experience your dreams, but not read your thoughts unless I’m this close to you.” She pointed at the space between them. “I’m guessing you can’t feel any of that because I can literally feel you now feeling me inside your head right now.” She smiled when Dean’s eyes widened and Sam tried to turn around. The rope tightened around Sam’s neck and forced him to face the other way. “Now.” She clapped her hands loudly. “I need to know what the fuck did you do to set up shut a lame one sided mind bond that’s stressing the shit out of me.”

 

“I don’t know what yo are talking about.” Dean gasped when the rope tightened around his neck. “I’m not shitting you! Can’t you read my mind to check the facts?”

 

“I could, but your mind is really fucked up and the last time I tried something I threw up.”

 

“You threw up a while ago.” Sam possibly didn’t mean to say that out loud, but he did anyway. His mind was running and trying to figure out the witch’s intent while trying to pray to Cas every once in a while to get him there.

 

“Astrid tried to help out your brother with a nightmare last night.” Cyrus frowned. “What the fuck do you even dream about?” he asked Dean who paled and widened his eyes. “You scared the shit out of Astrid… literally.”

 

“Uhh… excuse you, but I didn’t shit myself or anything. I just puked… a lot.” Astrid realized her defense wasn’t exactly helping her, so she cleared her throat. “I, uhh, tried to, uhh, crawl inside the link and basically slap the nightmare away.” Astrid grimaced. “Not my best move, but it worked.” She felt waves of discomfort, shame, and gratitude coming from Dean. She tried not to smile because somehow she knew Dean didn’t want to remain in the spotlight.

 

“When did this happen?” Sam asked. “The bond I mean. Not the- the nightmare.” Sam gulped, trying to change the topic.

 

Everyone was glad to be back in track.

 

“I- I don’t remember exactly.” Astrid turned to Cyrus. “We were in Cancun, weren’t we? I seem to have fuzzy memories.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Astrid no longer felt like emptying her stomach, but a headache had replaced her nausea. She didn’t see Sam and Dean frowning at her, and she missed Dean’s emotions.

 

“Yeah, after grandma dragged the family to D.F. to pray for the sun.” Cyrus placed a gloved hand on Astrid’s shoulders and squeezed.

 

“Praying for the sun?” Sam tried to share a look with Dean, but the rope prevented it.

 

“Our grandma said the sun was dying because we were all sinners that needed to pray more." Cyrus shrugged. “When the sun obviously didn’t die, Astrid and I took off for some impromptu vacations and she woke up feeling this asshole’s brain.” Cyrus pointed at Dean.

 

“Uhh… after the sun didn’t die.” Dean repeated.

 

“Did you have something to do with that shit?” Cyrus glared at them. “What did you two do?” He grabbed both Sam and Dean by the neck and whispered something under his breath. The rope frightened everywhere on their bodies except for their neck. “I’ve had to help my sister through your freaking nightmares and depressive feelings. I was afraid she might try to kill herself after the first nightmare you had.” Cyrus tightened his hold on Dean. “I don’t care who you are, but if it wasn’t because of her morals, you’d be long dead.”

 

“Dean,” Sam managed to kick Dean with his elbow. “Amara.”

 

“Shit.”

 

“Amara?” Cyrus frowned. “Who is that?”

 

“Can anyone else smell that?” Astrid asked.

 

“It smells like dust and rain.” Cyrus pursed his lips.

 

“It smells like ozone.” Astrid froze. “Oh God, I’m gonna puke again.” She leaned forward and hugged her stomach.

 

“Astrid, are you okay?”

 

“I don’t know. I’m feeling really sad suddenly, and it’s not something coming from here.” Astrid shook her head. “It’s pure, a raw emotion that’s deeply ingrained into this person, no being’s existence.” Astrid brought a hand to her face and was surprised to feel tears running down her cheeks. “Cyrus, I’m scared. Whoever this is, he is not something we’ve ever dealt with before.”

 

“Is it a demon?” Cyrus asked.

 

Sam and Dean tensed in their chairs.

 

“No, demons don’t feel so passionate.” Astrid looked at Cyrus. “This thing is angry, but he feels things so deeply.”

 

Sam and Dean frowned.

 

Cyrus zeroed in on them. “Why are you two frowning? What the fuck is going on?”

 

“I-” Dean opened his mouth to spill some bullshit, but the doors of the old warehouse were slammed open.

 

Thunder and rain followed the man walking inside the decrepit building. His coat whipping around his legs and torso like a willowing cape. He had dark hair and sparkling blue eyes. Despite all the dramatics of his entrance, the man didn’t look more than a little bit annoyed at the situation.

 

Astrid hiccupped and began crying freely.

 

“What the hell are you?” Astrid shook her head when the being locked eyes with her and attempted to approach. “Oh hell no! Get away from me!”

 

“Astrid?” Cyrus moved to take a hold of his sister’s arm, but she slapped it away as she tried to walk away.

 

 “Get away from me! What are you?” Astrid’s mind was overwhelmed with the smell of ozone and thunder. Her senses were focused on the man’s pain and sadness. Astrid wanted to claw out her skin and chug a full bottle of Xanax because of the panic she felt. This man was the purest depiction of depression and self-hatred she had ever witnessed. “Why are you like this?” Astrid asked between sobs.

 

“I’m an angel of the Lord. My name is Castiel.” He took a step forwards and Astrid ran to press her back against an old truck.

 

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” she chanted. “Get away from me!” Astrid tried to look for another exit, but Castiel kept moving. Astrid’s entire world collapsed when he pressed to fingers to her forehead. She felt his pain, his love, his devotion, his burdens, his guilt. Astrid felt every emotion the angel allowed her to see.

 

“You are an Empath.” Castiel backed off.

 

“I’m Astrid Rottmann,” she panted off, calmer than before.

 

“That’s not your true sure name.” Castiel frowned and turned around to look at the blonde man.

 

“We were adopted by the Rottmann family.” Astrid couldn’t help but try to clarify things for him. This angel didn’t know much about life, but he had a thirst for understanding that not many people had understood. “I never had a sure name.”

 

“You are a pure, Empath.” Castiel nodded to himself. “Your kin have been hunted for centuries. It wouldn’t surprise me that your caretakers know nothing about your origins.” He turned to Sam and Dean.

 

“Well gee! Can you stop chatting with the witch and maybe help us out a bit?” Dean hollered.

 

Castiel frowned. “She means no harm to you.”

 

“I don’t know if you are suddenly blind or what, but this chick is kinda harming us right now.” Dean pursed his lips and looked at Castiel like he was stupid.

 

Astrid bristled. “How fucking dare you?” She pushed Castiel away and walked up to Sam and Dean. “He has been nothing but kind to you two; yet you treat him like shit every fucking time you get a chance to belittle him.” Astrid tightened the rope around Dean, but not Sam. “If you could feel his emotions, you would be crying and whining for his forgiveness.” Astrid checked to see if she was still crying, not surprised to find her cheeks wet. “You two have romanticized yourselves so much, it’s a wonder you still have time to think about your friends and family. Your selfish insight has made him feel unwanted and unloved.” Astrid stopped shouting to wipe away her tears. “He would sacrifice his life to see you two smiling. He is so damn scared of dying and not knowing where angels go after death.” Astrid looked at Castiel and then at Sam and Dean. “The first time I interacted with your minds I was impressed by the goodness of your hearts and your love for family. HE is your family too and you are letting him suffer by himself and watch you two playing games with God and whatever the hell it is that’s not him.” Astrid stopped when she felt a new pain. This one wasn’t coming from the angel, but from Dean. It was too overwhelming to be surrounded by shame, guilt, and hurt while trying to deal with the angel’s own hurt, self-hatred, and depression. “Fuck, I need to get out of here.”

 

Astrid took off.

 

Castiel stood frozen in his spot and saw her get inside the black SUV parked outside. He looked at Cyrus who was just as shocked and then at Sam and Dean who were not doing anything about their newly acquired freedom. Castiel opened his mouth like he was going to comment, but there really wasn’t anything he could say. He looked down at his wet shoes and then looked up at Dean.

 

Dean wasn’t looking at him and neither was Sam.

 

“Well… that was new.” Cyrus offered his hand to Castiel. “Nice meeting you. My name is Cyrus. Always a fan of someone who can freak out my sister.”

 

Castiel shook his hand. “I’m not a fan of people who kidnap other people.” Castiel looked at Sam and Dean. “I don’t understand what I should be doing right now.” Castiel looked at Cyrus. “Should I be… killing you?”

 

“I would like to stay alive, thanks.” Cyrus smiled. “I’ll pray for you if I ever want to die.”

 

“I think we should just go.” Dean nodded to himself and pointed at the door.

 

“Astrid’s got your car keys.” Cyrus smiled. “Unless you feel like hot wiring that muscle car?”

 

Dean shuddered.

 

“Yeah, didn’t think so.” Cyrus placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder. He grinned when Sam grimaced in disgust. “Ok, why don’t we take this to a nicer place? We’ve got a room in the Hilton and we could get some dinner over there. Place’s got a nice room service.” Cyrus winked at Dean. “Astrid says you like whiskey, pie, and burgers.” He grinned when Dean’s eyes widened. Cyrus let go of Sam and walked over to slap Castiel’s shoulder in a friendly way. “Let me put you up to date hot wheels. The stupid lumberjack slash hunter did something really stupid and somehow bonded Astrid to his mind. I have no idea how the bond works, but Astrid said it’s uhh wrapped around her brain and back bone in a creepy way that could kill her.” Cyrus shrugged. “Dean-o here has no idea she had a foot in his brain, so I’m guessing it’s a one sided mind fuck we’ve got here.” Cyrus slapped Castiel’s arm. “We want to break this bond without killing my sister.”

 

“I didn’t know that kind of bonding was possible.” Castiel frowned. “Witch bonds are usually done through consensual blood rituals with another witch, familiar, or lover.” He turned his frown to Sam and Dean. “What kind of ritual did you do?”

 

“I HAVEN’T DONE ANY RITUALS!” Dean screamed scaring Sam and Cyrus, but no Castiel. “I need my car keys and then we haul ass to the Hilton!” Dean took off.

 

“Marvelous!” Cyrus rolled his eyes. “I suggest you follow our car.”

 

* * *

 

 

Dean stomped out of the old warehouse and towards the black SUV. He was immediately soaked in rain the moment he stepped out of the building. He pried open the back door to the SUV and was actually surprised to see the witch curled up on the SUV’s floor on top of the scratchy matt. Dean hesitated to approach her when she looked so vulnerable and hurt. Silently, he wondered if it was his fault.

 

“Get in looser,” Astrid muttered, but didn’t look up.

 

Dean sat down next to her and closed the door behind him.

 

“Could you at least try not be too angry?” Astrid asked. “I feel your anger right in my stomach and I have puked enough for a life time.”

 

“You-” Dean hesitated. “Last night?” he asked, not even caring to elaborate because he knew the witch would understand.

 

“I want to say something sarcastic like ‘you are welcome’, but that was such a horrible nightmare I wouldn’t have been able to not help you.” Astrid placed her chin on the leather seat and looked up at Dean through her eyelashes. “I felt every single second of it.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Dean whispered in a gruff tone.

 

Astrid smiled. “I know.” She sighed. “I heard you sold your soul, died, and came back. I’m guessing that was hell and that I’ve got no business asking about that type of shit.”

 

“You are really intuitive.”

 

“I’m an Empath.” She shrugged. “That means I sense emotions on various degrees of focus depending on how hard I try. I also can read minds quite easily and learn everything about someone if I touch them.” She looked at Dean with a frown. “With you I simply feel everything, at any time, on various degrees of strength and sometimes I even catch a stray though. I haven’t tried to pry into your memories and shit because I’m a decent human.” Astrid dug into her back pockets. “Here are your car keys. Cyrus and I will lead the way… and… I don’t know.”

 

Dean grabbed the keys from her and stared down at them. He was confused, torn between doing what his hunter instincts told him to and just rolling with it. He didn’t understand what she was. He was guessing she was some new mix between a psychic and a witch.

 

“A mix between a psychic and a witch?” Astrid raised an eyebrow. “I- uhh- I can’t see the future or contact ghosts like psychics do. They see things different that I do.” Astrid took a deep breath. Dean was freaking out about her being able to read his mind right now. “You are thinking too hard, Dean.” Astrid looked down at her bracelet. “Look, I don’t know what’s gonna happen once we are stuck in a hotel room, but if things don’t work out and we are literally stuck I’m gonna teach you how to protect your mind from me. Physical contact will always break any defenses you have, unless I try really hard not to read your mind.”

 

Dean let out a sigh and jumped when the driver’s side door was opened and Cyrus entered the car awkwardly. Cyrus shook his head not unlike a wet dog and looked back at Dean and Astrid. He frowned when he saw Astrid on the floor and Dean staring at her with his keys hanging between them. His eyes recognized the keys and he snatched from Dean’s hands before anyone could react. Cyrus opened the door and yelled “Sam!” before hurling the keys at him through the rain.

 

“Dude!” Dean complained.

 

“You are not driving like that.” Cyrus pursed his lips. “You look like shit, and you don’t seem willing to follow us to the hotel.”

 

Astrid nodded. “He is right, Dean. I was thinking that I would have to knock you out again and tie you up.”

 

Dean bristled. “You fucking try to come at me, bitch. Let’s see who gets their ass kicked.”

 

“Do I look like the type to get in a fist fight with someone twice my weight and with three times the muscle plus a sad amount of years hunting shit bigger than me?” Astrid crawled up to the front seat and rolled her blazer into a makeshift pillow. “Didn’t think so. Now, sit tight and please try not to think too hard or I’m gonna have an aneurism.”

 

“Is that possible?” Cyrus asked with a curious tone.

 

“Shut up, Cyrus.” Astrid put on her seat belt. “If he starts fuzzing wake me up and I’ll deal with him.”

 

“What? You think I won’t be able to deal with an old hunter?” Cyrus scoffed.

 

“Cyrus, you have the a hex bag in your left hand. I don’t need to be an Empath to see it.” Astrid sighed and held out a hand. “Hand it over.” She smiled when Cyrus gave her the hex bag.

 

“Fine.” Cyrus huffed. He reached out to put on his seat belt and started the engine. The radio flared to life on a classic rock station. Cyrus’ eyes widened and he slapped the radio off before Astrid began singing.

 

“HEY!” both Dean and Astrid shouted at the same time. Cyrus jumped so hard he hit his head with the car’s roof.

 

“You don’t skip the Allman brothers!” Astrid slapped his arm away from the radio.

 

“Yeah, dude! What the fuck?” Dean reached from across the back seat to turn the radio on and the volume up. The song was right in the chorus and both Dean and Astrid shouted it at Cyrus.

 

“Sometimes I feel… I feel like I’m TIED TO THE WHIPPING POST!”

 

“I have two psychos in my car.” Cyrus muttered to himself as he began driving.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Astrid guessed that making Dean stay in the car with her was a bad idea. It was like sharing the car with someone who hadn’t taken a bath in days and had covered himself in the most expensive cologne they could have found. Dean Winchester was both repulsive and damn interesting. Astrid huffed in annoyance and buried her face in her blazer. Her outfit was definitely not the most comfortable thing to sleep in, but there was nothing that would ever stop her from choosing unconsciousness over dealing with her problems. I was childish, but she didn’t have a childhood to begin with and she believed to be entitled to behave badly.

 

She fell asleep when Dean finally relaxed and continued to enjoy the classic rock. Astrid had stopped listening when she stopped recognized the bands; her classic rock knowledge was limited unlike Dean’s. Astrid didn’t really dream about anything, but she suddenly started to feel really sad. Astrid was still asleep when she began to cry and pout. She jerked herself awake and gasped loudly when she saw Castiel with his face almost pressed against her window. Astrid gingerly opened the door when Castiel stood back, barely even realizing she was alone in the car.

 

“Your brother didn’t want to wake you,” Castiel said. “I apologize for disrupting your sleep in such manner.”

 

“It’s okay,” Astrid murmured and got out of the car. This was apparently not such a good idea because she had forgotten about her high heels and almost fell down. Castiel caught her by the arm and gave her a small tight lipped smile. “Sorry.” She ignored the hand on her arm and straightened up. “Are you okay?”

 

“I’m not sure you should be the one asking that.” Castiel frowned.

 

Astrid pursed her lips. “You know what I mean, hot wings.” She could feel the waves of hesitance, worry, fear, and sadness (that seemed to be a constant) emanating from him.

 

“Hot wings?” Castiel raised an eyebrow. “That’s new.”

 

“And you grabbed that nickname like a life line to change the subject.” Astrid patted his shoulder, glad for the trench coat that made physical contact virtually impossible. “I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable, but I’m really worried about you.”

 

Castiel’s face softened, but he still looked cautious and unwilling to talk. He seemed to realize something and his eyes widened slightly. “No one had said that to me.”

 

“That’s because people are usually rude assholes.” Astrid tried to joke, but then sobered up. “If you ever need to talk, I,” she trailed off and looked up at him, “I’m here.” Castiel looked astonished. The emotional waves Astrid felt were mostly unrecognizable because of the angel’s nature, but there was an undertone of hurt and gratefulness that made Astrid tear up again. “Ok, I can’t.” Astrid threw herself at him and brought him in for a hug.

 

Castiel stiffened. He let out a small sigh like an amused huff, but Astrid new better and she hugged him tighter. Castiel’s arms slowly went up to wrap themselves around Astrid’s smaller frame. He felt like his emotions began to rearrange themselves into a more controlled mess than what they were. Astrid seemed to be unaware of it, but the physical contact was triggering something in her that made his subconscious relax and try to mimic her overall wellbeing. He placed his chin on top of her head and closed his eyes for a moment before pulling back stiffly.

 

They didn’t speak about it as they walked out of the parking lot into an elevator and straight to the room Astrid shared with Cyrus. They walked into the room with Astrid’s key card and saw Sam and Dean standing awkwardly near the mahogany desk. They were both glaring at Cyrus who was currently hanging up the phone. Astrid and Castiel frowned. She tried to gauge everyone’s body language and couldn’t see anything. She cheated and willingly pried a bit into Dean’s mind. He was feeling angry and ashamed. Like someone had just poked at his manly pride. Astrid looked at Cyrus who looked smug and instantly knew that Cyrus had done something that rich people always do. Get expensive stuff like it wasn’t a big deal and show off.

 

“Dude, I ordered you the Montecristo with the chowder because I didn’t know if you were in the mood for lobster or-”

 

“Thanks.” Astrid gave him a tight lipped smile and sat down on Cyrus’ bed.

 

“He keeps calling you ‘dude’, but I’m pretty sure that’s only used for human males.” Castiel tilted his head like a bird and looked at everyone in the room in hopes of an explanation.

 

“Uhh.” Astrid scratched the back of her neck. “I used to call him ‘sis’, and he answered with ‘dude’ and it kinda stuck when I wasn’t offended.”

 

“I’d love to keep asking random stuff about your speech patterns, but we seem to have a problem right here!” Dean pointed at himself and Astrid. “Unless y’all want to start the sleepover early and we join forces to braid Sam’s hair together.”

 

Astrid scowled at his manners and turned around to glare at him directly before Sam had the chance to defend himself. “It’s like you are expecting one of us to suddenly come up with a solution or a test and just begin fixing things just because you are suddenly annoyed or angry about not being the center of attention for once.” Astrid shook her head. “Are you really so self-conscious of your waning masculinity that you feel the need to attack your own brother for his hairstyle choices? Really, what’s wrong with you? Couldn’t you just ask out loud if anyone had any idea on what the fuck we should be doing right now? Forgive all of us for trying to make an awful situation less stressing and uncomfortable! Oh mighty male specimen!”

 

Everyone fell silent as Dean blushed profusely and gaped. Cyrus broke the silence was whistling and clicking his tone. “Damn, Astrid,” he said “Stop roasting the guy.”

 

“I.” Sam hummed. “I actually want to try something.” He dragged his brother by the shoulder and sat him down next to Astrid who immediately moved away from him. Dean struggled to stand up, but Sam fought him back. “Cas, Astrid mentioned a link or a bond.” He waited for Castiel to step closer to them. “Can you check it? This would be easier if we all knew what we are dealing with.”

 

Dean huffed. “When did we stop trying to kill each other? That was easier.”

 

“That can be easily fixed.” Astrid glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. She was feeling how disgusted and unwilling to cooperate Dean was. This only made Astrid angrier. “Castiel, how are you going to do this?” she asked. She was afraid that the angel would accidentally break something and kill them both.

 

“There are two ways to do this.” Castiel raised a finger. “The first one is touching your soul.”

 

Dean stood up, but sat back down when Sam pushed him. “Fuck no, I’ve seen you doing that and it looks like it hurts like a bitch.”

 

Astrid rolled her eyes. “Pussy.”

 

Dean made an indignant sound, but Castiel was quick to cut him off. “The second one works like dream walking.” Castiel glared at Dean. “Unlike humans, I won’t need anything for the spell.”

 

“Dream walking?” Astrid asked. “Well that makes sense. I tried that with Dean a while ago and I tried to tug at the bond.”

 

Castiel hummed. “That would be impossible if you weren’t an Empath. Humans are blind to bonds like these.” Castiel stopped and frowned when he remembered Astrid could read his mind albeit only superficially.

 

Astrid immediately knew what he was thinking and turned around to look at Dean. She narrowed her eyes and then looked back at Castiel who now looked downright curious. Astrid squinted her eyes tighter and focused on Dean. She placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder and frowned. The hunter was feeling spooked, but this didn’t make Astrid back off. Suddenly Astrid widened her eyes and looked back at Castiel. He cleared his throat and looked away.

 

“Whoa, that’s… awesome!” she said and stopped touching Dean.

 

“What’s awesome?” Dean asked, moving to take a sit on the other bed.

 

“A profound bond,” Sam said, remembering a chat he had with Castiel years ago. “I thought that was just a figure of speech.”

 

“It’s very thin, but it’s warm and so… indescribable. Like it’s on fire or made of fire, but its’ contained and- and I don’t know.” Astrid looked back at Castiel. “What I said in the parking lot-”

 

Castiel straightened up. “We can talk about that later.”

 

“Parking lot?” Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Am I the only one feeling left out of everything?” Cyrus raised his hand like a kid on a class room and looked around the room. “No? Sam? You look a bit left out too.”

 

“No one has ever tried dream walking in my head.” Astrid ignored Cyrus and turned her attention back to Castiel. “Is it gonna work? You are not gonna kill me are you? Your presence by itself is kinda overwhelming and bright.” Bright. Astrid didn’t know how she hadn’t realized it before, but Castiel looked like he was standing under a spotlight, but it was dull and barely there. She almost choked on her own spit when she realized Castiel had a small halo on his head.

 

“I’ll make sure to keep my grace subdued to protect your mind.” Castiel nodded. “Empaths are quite rare as it is, it would be a shame if you died before procreating.”

 

“Whoa!” everyone in the room shouted at the same time for different reasons and different tones.

 

It was in that moment of highly uncomfortable silence that there was a shy knock on the door.

 

Astrid stood up. “Ok, new rule: no discussing my ovaries, ok?” she said and walked over to the door.

 

Two waitresses walked into the room, smiled politely while everyone, but Cyrus ignored them. Cyrus stood up and cleared the large mahogany desk for the food. After the silver platters were placed on the desk and the girls left with a generous tip from Cyrus, Astrid sat back down on her bed with her chowder and Montecristo sandwich. Sam and Cyrus grabbed two chairs and settled down on the large desk. Dean grabbed his burger and sat down on the free bed. Cas simply stood in the middle of the room.

 

 “Ok, so you, hot wings, how are you gonna do this?” She wiggled her finger between her and Dean who was wolfing down a cheeseburger.

 

“I,” Castiel said, but then closed his mouth and made a face. “Hot wings?”

 

“Rhymes with hot wheels, but funnier.” Astrid shrugged and saw Sam and Cyrus burst into laughter. Dean for his part was too petty to allow himself to laugh. “So, how are you gonna do it?” she asked again to the confused angel. Astrid could feel the waves of slight amusement beneath all that confusion and general feeling of angel that she couldn’t describe.

 

“I’ll need to put you both into a deep sleep,” Castiel began. “It would be preferable if you both shared a bed.”

 

“Excuse me?” Dean asked, a piece of lettuce form the borer hanging from his chin. He glared when Astrid reached out and wiped his chin with her own clean napkin.

 

“Aww you guys are gonna make me vomit!” Cyrus teased. “Although Astrid here has puked enough for all of us today.”

 

“Shut up, pendejo!” Astrid hissed.

 

“Perra,” Cyrus shot back and turned to Castiel. “No, but seriously what’s up with sharing beds?”

 

Castiel shrugged. “I need to be able to reach both their foreheads with my palms.” He raised his hands. “These beds are too far apart for me to do so.”

 

“Then we move this shit!” Dean stood up and placed his plate back on the desk next to Sam’s salad. He clapped his hand and looked at the beds. “Okay, so we are gonna have to move the bedside table first and-”

 

“Excuse you, hunter, but who the fuck allowed you to move shit around here?” Cyrus raised a finger. “Oh, yes! No one! So take back your manly dinner and sit your ass back.”

 

Dean was about to argue, but he stopped when Sam handed him his plate back. “Really?”

 

“What?”

 

“Jerk.”

 

“Bitch.”

 

“I’ve heard so many insults today,” Astrid mumbled with her mouth full of chowder. “Dean sit down and eat your burger. Cyrus shut up and don’t anger the hunters.” Astrid took another spoonful of chowder and motioned for Cas to go on with a hand.

 

“I don’t need any ingredients for the spell, my grace will be more than enough even in its state.” He stopped when Astrid hummed in agreement. “Can you feel my grace?” he asked.

 

“No, but I can see your halo if I focus enough and it doesn’t look very shiny.”

 

“Right, so for the spell-” Castiel was interrupted by Sam.

 

“He has a halo?” Sam asked, standing up and walking over to Astrid.

 

“Sam, know it’s not the time to geek out!” Dean complained and frowned when Sam didn’t listen and sat down next to Astrid.

 

“What else can you see? Can you see spiritual energy? I’ve heard some psychics see feelings like colors and-”

 

“Sam!” Dean growled.

 

“What? I’m just having a chat with your girlfriend, man, chill out.”

 

“Whoa!” Astrid, Cyrus, and Dean shot up from their seats. Castiel took a step back in surprise and looked around the room for any social ques as to what was going on.

 

“Can we just let the angel go on?” Astrid said with an uncomfortable smile. She was feeling the different levels of anger and distaste rolling off of Dean. She didn’t even want to focus on whatever Cyrus or Sam felt right now. The angel was surprisingly not the most intense being on the room.

 

“Sure, sorry.” Sam stood up and went back to his salad.

 

“As I was saying before I got interrupted-”

 

Cyrus saw that as a perfect moment to interrupt the angel. “You know; this reminds me of a funny story!”

 

“Cyrus, let the angel finish. He doesn’t understand your sass or your sarcasm and I’m feeling how annoyed and confused he is. So please shut the fuck up and that goes out to all of you, overgrown children.”

 

“I’m not an overgrown child,” Cyrus complained.

 

Astrid clutched the pendant on her neck and hissed, “silento!” Her hand a green glow after she said the word. When the glow died, Cyrus’ mouth glowed green and he pursed his lips when he realized he could no longer say anything. “Go on, Castiel.” She smiled.

 

“I… the spell right.” Castiel shared a look with Sam and Dean who looked spooked. “If my grace turns out not to be enough I’d like to ask your permission to borrow some power from your magic.”

 

“Sure, go ahead.” Astrid shrugged and took a bite of her sandwich.

 

“Thank you.” Castiel did a little bow that Astrid couldn’t feel but think it was adorable. “This will be a standard dream walking experience, but since the target is not a single person we will have to pull one of you into the other’s subconscious.” Castiel pointed at Dean who had finished his meal and was freaking out silently. “Dean, you’ve got the weaker mind out of the three of us.”

 

“Well thanks, Cas.” Dean rolled his eyes.

 

“What I’m trying to say is that I’ll need to pull you both out into a dream created by me while I check out this bond of yours.”

 

Astrid cleared her throat and swallowed her food. “Wouldn’t that be kind of dangerous? The bond will most definitely try to fight you once you try to pull both of us out. This thing feels dark and very rough on the edges. I’d say it even felt a bit defensive when I touched it… like it was trying to fight me off, but knew it was attached to me too.”

 

“Will cross that bridge when we get there.” Cas smiled. Astrid instantly knew he was quoting Dean by how they both softened at the phrase. “Are you two ready?”

 

“Cas, I don’t want you to drain yourself doing this,” Dean said.

 

“Yeah, Cas,” Sam piped in. “You haven’t been yourself ever since you got your grace back.”

 

“I’ll be okay.” Castiel rolled his eyes. “Are you two ready?” he asked Dean and Astrid.

 

They shared a look and Dean sighed. “Sure,” he said.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

Astrid settled down on the bed with her feet facing to the headboard.

 

“Come on Winchester!” Astrid patted the free space on the bed. “Settle down.”

 

Dean grunted in response. He sat down gingerly on the edge of the bed. He grimaced and picked up a pillow to put it between them.

 

“Really?” Astrid raised an eyebrow, but made no further comment. She could feel how uncomfortable Dean felt and how confused Castiel felt with Dean's reaction. She guessed it had something to do with Dean's previous reactions to females. Astrid rolled her eyes and waited for Dean to lay down.

 

“How long is this gonna take?” Cyrus asked before Dean got settled.

 

“As long as it takes,” Castiel answered coldly.

 

“Cryptic,” Cyrus said before sitting on the free bed and looking at Astrid. “I must say, it's not every day that I see my sister sharing a bed with two guys.”

 

“It's technically only one guy and I've seen you in worse situations.” Astrid ignored how Dean squirmed and slowly moved away from her. She craned her neck to look at Cyrus.

 

“Dude, that was ten years ago!” Cyrus complained.

 

Astrid grimaced. “This conversation is over. Hit it Cas.”

 

Cas blinked repeatedly. “I- I'm not going to hit anyone. Why would you think that? I- I.”

 

Dean cut him off. “Cas, shut up and just do whatever it is you are going to do already.” Dean pursed his lips and prepared himself mentally for Cas to knock him out.

 

“Of course, Dean.” Cas nodded and stood at the foot of the bed.

 

Sam and Cyrus stood back and watched as Dean grimaced and Astrid looked slightly unnerved. Cas didn't seem to notice this as he lowered his hands to press his fingers against their foreheads. In exactly two seconds, both Astrid and Dean closed their eyes and their tense bodies went completely limp.

 

Cyrus hummed. “Well that was anticlimactic.”

 

“What did you expect?” Sam asked with a huff.

 

“Fireworks? Glowing eyes? His hands glowing or something? I don't know, hunter. I'm a witch, we do things with fanfare.” Cyrus shrugged.

 

“Tell me about it.” Sam chuckled and shook his head. He leaned forward on his seat and looked at Castiel, who remained vent over his brother and the stranger.

 

“Hey no, that's racist. You know nothing, Jon Snow.” Cyrus waved a finger in dismissal. “You have only met the asshole type of witches. Don't you dare compare us to them.”

 

Sam straightened up in his seat and raised his hands to defend himself. “Sorry, I'm sorry.  Won't do it again, man.” His eyes widened in surprise and Sam avoided eye contact.

 

Cyrus shook his head and ignored Sam for the entire night.

 

* * *

 

 

You know that feeling of awareness you get exactly ten seconds before waking up in which you cannot really have a coherent thought. Well, Astrid felt that but worse. She was aware of Castiel touching her forehead with his fingertips and Dean besides her on the bed with the pillow between their bodies, but at the same time, she could feel Castiel fighting to drag her consciousness out of her body and into his.

 

She tensed up immediately. She tried to slam the doors to the angel’s mental pull, but it was like trying to stop a moving car with your bare hands. Astrid knew her body began shivering lightly. She also knew Sam and Cyrus had stood up to do something. She closed her focus on her surroundings and focused on the angel and her body. Astrid couldn't move or scream and it was freaking her the hell out.

 

Castiel began speaking to her with his true voice. “I mean no harm,” he said, his voice was deeper and terrifying, but the tone made her feel safe and loved. “Astrid, I promise not to pry or break your trust. Your mind is safe within my grace. Let me take you.”

 

Astrid didn't know when she decided to trust the angel, but she let go.

 

* * *

 

When she became aware of her surroundings once again, she was looking at a lake. Astrid had a beer in her hand and a book in the other. She realized she was sitting down on a chair next to Dean’s who had a six-pack of beers on his lap and a fishing rod in the other.

 

“What?” she asked.

 

Dean seemed to understand what she was asking and pointed at the lake. “This is a dream I had. Cas invaded my privacy once and snuck into this dream.”

 

“This place is really relaxing,” Astrid commented. “I can see why Cas would take us here.” Astrid set the beer down and looked at the book. It had a black cover and nothing written in the pages. “Weird.” She placed the book between her legs and looked at Dean. “Are you actually expecting to catch something with that?” She pointed at the rod.

 

“Maybe Cas added in a fish or two.” Dean shrugged. “Is this my head?” he asked.

 

“No.” Astrid shook her head. “This doesn't feel like you.”

 

“What do you mean?” Dean grimaced. “’Cause that sounds creepy.”

 

“Just people have different voices and mannerisms, they have different minds. I can tell this is not you.” Astrid looked at the book. “This feels like Castiel.”

 

Dean succumbed to his curiosity. “What does Cas feel like?”

 

“Sad mostly.” Astrid looked up at Dean just in time to see him flinch. “Hurt, confused, but also powerful and relaxing. It feels like he has a lot of love to give.” Astrid brought her legs closer to her chest and pressed her chin to her knees. “It's overwhelming and relaxing at the same time. It's strange.” She shrugged.

 

Dean didn’t answer and Astrid didn't try to pry into his feelings.

 

She wasn't lying when she felt relaxed inside the angel's mind. It only became overwhelming if she began to think about where she was and what she was picking up.  

 

Dean touched her arm. “Astrid?” he asked. “You okay?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You zoned out for a while and you started shaking.” Dean stopped touching her arm and went back to his fishing.

 

Astrid frowned. “How long?”

 

Dean shrugged. “About a minute or two.” Dean cleared his throat as if he was trying to look casual. Astrid raised an eyebrow at that. “We could keep talking about shit instead of having you zone out into whatever Cas is.”

 

Astrid didn't answer right away. She eyed Dean and focused on his emotions, but only the superficial ones. He was feeling uncomfortable and Astrid didn't want to push him.

 

“What's that necklace you've got there?” Dean asked unexpectedly.

 

“What?” Astrid saw Dean pointing at her neck. “Oh. It's a clear quartz.” She took the necklace off for Dean to inspect. “I use it to focus my magic for spells or long rage mind reading.”

 

Dean raised his eyebrows. “Wow! This must not be worth a lot!” he said and returned the jewelry gently as if he was going to drop it.

 

“It's actually really cheap, but I paid too much for this one because it was pretty.” Astrid shrugged. “This one was 30 bucks, but these necklaces are usually worth 20 at most.”

 

Dean laughed at that. “I actually expected it to be worth more than a dude's first car.” He shook his head. “I don't know.” He shrugged. “I'm just surprised.”

 

“Do you even want to know what my first car was worth?” Astrid grinned.

 

“Nope,” Dean said, “but I'm gonna bite anyway. How much?”

 

“I've never owned a car.” Astrid shrugged it off with a smirk.

 

“Bullshit! You look like one of those rich kids who got Audis for Christmas and horses for birthdays.” Dean dropped his fishing rod and glared at it. “Wasn't even gonna catch anything.”

 

“Actually, I've never had a horse and I've always had rental cars or my parent's cars.” Astrid picked reached over and picked up the fishing rod. “But I always a muscle car like the one you've got,” she added.

 

“I'm calling bullshit again.” Dean turned around in his seat to look at her. “You probably know nothing about cars.”

 

“My mom started off her business with trucks and she's got this huge deal with Texaco and Shell that I can't talk about. She actually forced me and Cyrus to learn everything we could about cars.” Astrid toyed with the rod, not wanting to admit that she didn't know anything about fishing.

 

“Maybe not the rich girl I thought you were.” Dean took a sip from his beer. “Your brother, on the other hand, looks very Disney Princess to me.” Dean immediately knew he said something wrong when Astrid flinched and tensed up.

 

Astrid looked down at her feet and gripped the rod tighter. She took a deep breath before answering. “He is a Disney Princess because he never knew poverty because he was adopted when he was a baby.” Astrid let out a small sigh. “I wasn't so lucky.”

 

Dean's eyes widened in shock. “I-I'm- SHIT!” He stood up and kicked the chair accidentally.

 

“You are shit?” Astrid asked with a grin.

 

“Cas just did something!” Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “Cas!” he screamed. “Cas, what are you doing?” he screamed again.

 

“He found the bond,” Astrid answered. She focused on Dean’s mind and was not surprised to feel the angel entirely focused on him. “Just so you know, Castiel is focusing on saving you more than keeping me alive. He isn't even checking in on the bond on my side.” Astrid stood up and picked up Dean's chair. She ignored how Dean looked confused and insulted as ever. “Look, this means he cares about you and that he is more worried about hurting you than hurting me, which is completely understandable considering that we've just met.”

 

“I-” Dean started, but he gasped loudly and sat down on his chair. “Holy crap! That's the bond?”

 

“That's just part of it.” Astrid sat down next to him once again. “It kinda looks like Venom from Spider-Man, but wrapped around our brains and spinal cord!” she said all of that with a sweet tone and a sarcastic smile.

 

“That's nasty.” Dean pursed his lips. “Anything else you missed telling me?”

 

Astrid raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think I would hide anything from-”

 

“You are witch.” Dean matched her raised her eyebrow. “Of course you would hid stuff.” Dean saw her reading herself to argue. “Don't argue with me on that one.”

 

“I was gonna say that was racist.” She crossed her arms and pouted dramatically. “But now my feelings are hurt and I can't help but feel- FUCK!” Astrid bent over and hissed. “You weren’t kidding about that hurting.” She grimaced.

 

“Guess Cas isn't so focused on me anymore.” Dean grinned and then added, “but don't you dare change the subject. Are you hiding anything or not?”

 

“No, asshole.” Astrid sat back up with a hand on her neck. “I barely even know what's going on and told you about my mind reading thing and witchery. There's nothing else you need to know about me; we are not playing twenty questions here.”

 

After she said that, Cas appeared behind the hunter and the witch. Dean and Astrid jumped up from their seats out of shock. They almost lost their balance by doing so, but managed to hold onto each other. They both frowned at their handholding and dropped each other's hands with equal measures of disgust.

 

“I apologize for taking so long.” Cas did a little bow and took a step forward. “Dean, I'd like to discuss my findings with you and Sam before -”

 

“Oh hell no, angel!” Astrid stepped forward and pointed a finger at Castiel. “If you haven't noticed, Dean and I are in the same shitty boat and whatever it is you found I want to know about it.”

 

“Dean?”

 

“Let her.” Dean waved a hand in dismissal. “She's gonna use her Vulcan tricks on me anyway.”

 

“Vulcan tricks?” Cas tilted his head like a bird.

 

Astrid, overwhelmed by the angel's confusion, decided to step up. “It's a reference to Star Trek and how Spock did a weird thing with fingers to read minds.” Astrid sighed in relief when the confusion wore off Castiel.

 

“Then I'll wake you two up.” Cas nodded and touched their foreheads.

 

Astrid and Dean woke up with a groan. Cas stepped back from them and allowed Cyrus and Sam to fuse over their respective siblings. Dean slapped Sam's hand away and sat up by himself. Astrid pushed Cyrus back and curled up on herself instead of sitting up. Cyrus sighed and let her be.

 

“Well?” Dean asked in a gruff tone.

 

Castiel eyed Astrid, but decided to continue anyway. “I hope I'm wrong about this, but the bond is similar to something I've sensed before and thought we wouldn't have to deal with again.”

 

“Cut the crap, Cas!” Dean said and stood up.

 

“If feels similar to the mark of Cain and Amara.”

 

“The who and the what?” asked Cyrus, not seeing how Sam and Dean took a step back in fear.

 

“Amara is God's sister and the mark of Cain is a curse built to keep her sealed and convert the wearer into a knight of hell demon.” Sam turned his attention to Castiel. “Cas, are you sure about this?”

 

Castiel looked down at his shoes. “I'm afraid so.”

 

“Son of a bitch!” Dean

 

Astrid sat up. “Wait; if it's a curse then we can break it with a counter spell-”

 

Sam cut her off. “We tried that reasoning with the mark of Cain and it didn’t work so well,” says Sam, remembering how they accidentally freed Amara. “The last time we saw something like this it served to keep God’s sister locked away.”

 

“Oh, okay?” Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “But if she is already free… then we have nothing to fear and-”

 

“We are not taking any chances.” Dean grabbed his jacket from the back of Cyrus’ chair. “We are leaving.” He pushed past Castiel and opened the door while saying: “thanks for the food.”

 

Sam quickly stood up to follow him. “Dean!” he yelled. “Wait up man!”

 

Astrid placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder before he could actually follow after him. “Sam, don’t.” She shook her head. “Castiel, go after him.” She saw Castiel disappear on thin air and turned to Sam. “He doesn’t want to talk about it so don’t ask me.”

 

“But-”

 

“I’m telling you this because I can sense his feelings and right now he doesn’t need you to ask him about them. He closed himself hard enough to keep me away from his thoughts.” Astrid let go of Sam’s arm and went over to the desk. “If you guys ever need a witch just give me a call.” She wrote down Cyrus’ and her phone number on a hotel pad. “Something tells me you are the smart one, so give me a call when you think Dean is about to do something stupid. I can sorta sense his decision making process too… I mean not right now, but I usually can feel it pretty easily.”

 

“Uhh… thanks.” Sam pocketed the piece of paper. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He smiled politely and sighed. He looked at the now closed door and then at Astrid. “So, what should I do about him?”

 

“I don’t care as long as you keep him alive.” Astrid returned his polite smile but with an added sarcastic tone. “I’ve got my own pain in the ass big brother and a client to meet tomorrow for breakfast. Therefore, I will politely ask you to fuck off and let me sleep.” Astrid turned around, picked up a small duffle bag and walked over to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

 

Sam and Cyrus shared a look and just stood there for a minute staring at each other wordlessly. Cyrus broke the silence by clearing his throat and scratching his head awkwardly. Sam seemed to remember how to be a human and offered up his hand for a handshake. Cyrus took it quickly and shook it.

 

“Nice to meet you, man.” Cyrus pursed his lips into an awkward smile and let go of Sam’s hand.

 

“You too, take care of your sister.” Sam smiled and took a step back.

 

“Same, don’t let your brother be an ass.” Cyrus’s lips curled into a less awkward smile.

 

“Yeah, thanks for the food.” Sam took another step backwards.

 

“No problem, dude.” Cyrus began walking towards the door and lead Sam to it. ”Goodnight.”

 

“Night.” Sam nodded and hesitated before running away from Cyrus.

 

Astrid exited the bathroom still wearing her dress pants but with an old t-shirt. She ran over to Cyrus with conviction and Cyrus paled. He tried to make a run for it, but Astrid was faster and touched the first available patch of skin. Cyrus panicked and pushed her away. Astrid didn’t protest, but she widened her eyes and wolf whistled.

 

“Shut up!”

 

Astrid raised her hands in a defensive position and went back to the bathroom.

  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

“Dean!” Cas called, having appeared behind him in the hallway.

 

Dean’s head turned around slightly in an aborted movement to look at Cas. Dean shook his head and tightened his fists as he continued walking away from everything. He reached the elevator and slapped the button down hard. He could see Cas approaching him with quick steps and a worried frown on his face. Dean gulped and pressed the button repeatedly with and an overall panicked look on his face. Cas was getting nearer and nearer and Dean felt like he couldn’t breathe. There were two outcomes of Cas reaching him, Dean was either going to kick the shit out of him or run away. Dean slammed his hand on the pad and eyed the door to the emergency stairs next to the elevators. Maybe he could lose Cas and catch the elevator on a different level. Dean took off running before he finished his thought.

 

Castiel, of course, didn’t run after him. Instead, he simply materialized in front of Dean. The only problem was that Dean ran into Cas. They would have toppled over and give Dean a couple of broken bones if Cas hadn’t caught Dean by the shoulders. Dean’s hunter’s instincts didn’t kick in when he recognized Cas. Instead, he spluttered and tried to move away from the angel’s personal space. Cas tightened his grip on Dean’s shoulders.

 

“Dean, stop!” Cas shook Dean a bit and then released his shoulders in favor of gently holding him by the arms.

 

Dean didn’t protest. “What, Cas?” he said between his teeth.

 

“Dean, whatever it is you are thinking: don’t!” Cas gulped. “This is not like the mark of Cain. Everything is going to be okay.”

 

Dean snapped and said: “and how the fuck are you so sure of that!” He shrugged off Cas’ hands and glared. “Every fucking time you are sure about a situation, it all goes to hell! The apocalypse? Sam and the demon blood? The fucking leviathan! You staying back on Purgatory and fucking saying yes to be Lucifer’s bitch? I mean, what the actual fuck was up with that one? We still haven’t fixed that mess and here I am cursed once again! And this time I’m not the only one I’m pulling into my misery. I’m dragging that rich kid down with me and now I can’t even kill myself because that could kill her.”

 

“Dean…” Cas took a step forwards. “This is different, Dean… and even if it’s not then I’m not going to leave you.”

 

“Yeah, whatever man.” Dean scowled and pushed Castiel away. “Doesn’t matter what you say, there ain’t no difference here.”

 

Castiel dropped his hands to his sides and watched Dean walk away with his hands deep in his pockets.

 

* * *

Sam arrived at the parking lot and found Dean waiting for him inside the Impala.

 

“Dude?” Sam lifted an eyebrow when he noticed Dean’s white knuckled grip on the steering wheel. “Uhh… where’s Cas.”

 

“He left already.” Dean set the car on reverse and began driving.

 

“Uhh… is there anything I need to know?” Sam asked.

 

“Nope, nada.” Dean fixed the already perfectly placed rearview mirror and turned on the radio. “Let’s just go to the bunker.”

 

* * *

 

Cas wasn’t in the bunker when they got there and Sam was confused. He didn’t know what Dean’s problem was besides the obvious ones. There was no way in hell that Dean would magically open up to him. Dean was constantly walking around the bunker with his jaw set and his brow furrowed. Sam never said anything to him when they bumped into each other on the hallways or the kitchen. Cas dropped by two days later when he wanted to use the library for research on how to catch Satan. Sam jumped on the opportunity to have something to do besides avoid Dean.

 

Cas was researching tracking spells with Sam when there was a knock on the door. Dean was hanging out in the kitchen and somehow heard the knock. Dean grabbed a gun from one of the bookcases and Sam got one from under the table. Cas grabbed the holy oil jar that sat on top of a shelf and grabbed his angel blade. The three of them slowly made their way upstairs without making a sound. Cas hid the jar on one of his coat pockets. Dean held the doorknob and gave Sam a look. Sam nodded and prepared his gun. Cas pressed his back to the wall.

 

Dean opened the door for Sam. Castiel raised his sword. Sam frowned when he didn’t see anyone outside. They heard someone walking, crunching every possible leaf under their boots. Before Sam could look at the person’s face, he shot them with his aim on their legs. There was a grunt and the sound of someone falling down. What Sam didn’t expect was a high-pitched explosion sound and a harsh light hitting his eyes like a flashbang. He closed his eyes and was momentarily blinded. Dean and Castiel pushed Sam away and pointed their weapons at the newcomer lying on the ground.

 

“Dean, I’m blind!” Sam shouted.

 

“God fucking damn it! Sam, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Cyrus asked. He was curled up on the ground and holding his leg tightly to his chest. Despite having been shot at, there was no blood.

 

“Language, Cyrus!” Astrid said somewhere to Cyrus’ left and out view from the guys inside the bunker. “I told you that was gonna happen.” She went to kneel next to her brother. She went straight for his neck and pulled out a long silver necklace from under his shirt. It had a handful of charms hanging from it, one of them was blackened and smoking. Astrid shook her head and let go of the necklace. “I have some spares at the car, be right back.”

 

“Wait a second.” Dean reached out and grabbed Astrid by the shoulder.

 

Astrid frowned at his hand. “Chill, I said I’d be right back.” She shrugged off his hand shook her head all the way up the dirt trail that led to the road.

 

“What the hell was that?” Sam asked with his eyes shut.

 

“It’s a Chinese protection charm, works like a force field made of fireworks.” Cyrus rubbed his leg once more before sitting up. “It was really fucking expensive so thanks for that. It’s called huo fangdan.”

 

“Bulletproof fire?” Castiel translated with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, the guy that made it wasn’t that creative.” Cyrus looked up at the Winchesters, but focused on Sam. “You are gonna be blind for about five minutes.” Cyrus shrugged. “Serves you right for shooting me.”

 

“Serves me right?” Sam shouted with a hand on Dean’s shoulder for balance. “You listen to me you son of a bitch!”

 

“I’m back!” Astrid shouted gleefully. Her smile dropped when she saw Sam glaring at Cyrus with closed eyes. “Are you guys fighting again?” She knelt besides her brother and began to replace the charms.

 

“Damn right we are!” Dean stepped up. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”

 

“For tea and cookies,” Cyrus replied sarcastically. “What do you think asshole?”

 

“Who are you calling asshole, asshole?” Dean stepped forwards, but Astrid stood up and stopped him with a hand on his chest.

 

“We are here because you are an asshole that can’t talk about his problems with his brother or best friend and it’s giving me daily migraines.” Astrid crossed her arms over her chest. “I also accidentally crawled up your brain last night and learned that you need a super strong tracking spell.” She shrugged. “Sorry about that by the way. Didn’t mean to do that.”

 

Dean stepped back with a bit of shock. “Uhh… okay?”

 

“Your services will not be necessary.” Cas bowed. “I don’t think your skills will be enough to help us.”

 

Astrid and Cyrus both placed their hands on their chests and gasped dramatically.

 

“How dare you?” Astrid asked in mock offense.

 

“We are looking for Lucifer.” Dean pursed her lips and placed a hand on the door. “Don’t think you guys have any experience with that. Thanks for dropping by.” He smiled and went to close the door, but Astrid snapped her fingers and the door remained wide open.

 

“I know for a fact that he used Sam as a vessel.” Astrid pointed at Sam. “Like I said, I’m sorry for accidentally running through your thoughts, but you were thinking too loudly and sleeping too… too open.” Astrid scrunched her nose. “Maybe I can use that to my advantage and pull off a tracking spiritual spell.”

 

“That’s a thing?” Dean asked, incredulous.

 

“Sure as hell is.” Cyrus grunted and stood up. “It’s mostly used in Brazil to search for missing kids. We do the spell on the child’s room with the child’s belongings and maybe a tooth or something. People tend to keep their kid’s teeth for good luck so it’s easy.” Cyrus leaned against the door jam. “Are you going to let us in or what?”

 

Dean hesitated and Sam didn’t move at all. Castiel immediately stepped back from the door, pulling Sam with him on accident. Dean gawked at Cas and helped Sam regain his balance with a hand on his shoulder. Sam was too disoriented to realize that Cas just cleared the door for the witches.

 

“Thank you, hot wings!” Astrid winked at Cas and helped Cyrus inside.

 

“What the hell, Cas?” Dean’s cheeks and neck flushed with anger. “You are just gonna let two witches enter the bunker?”

 

“Yes?” Cas tilted his head to the side. “I don’t understand what the problem is.”

 

“That’s because you are too pure and Dean is just being an ass.” Astrid patted Cas on the back. “Hey, Castiel, what do you know about angelic possessions?” She began to pull Cas away from the Winchesters and down the stairs. Dean huffed and remained where he was.

 

Cyrus limped behind them without having the need to use either one for support. “Yeah, we only know stuff about demonic possessions, because we never bothered with the angel lore because we didn’t think they’d exist, because we-”

 

“Anyway!” Astrid interrupted him. “Demons leave a trail of whatever it is they are made off after possessing someone, do angels do that too?” Astrid could clearly remember tracking down demons who possessed children in Brazil. It was a gruesome task, but hunting always ended up being exactly that.

 

“They do.” Castiel nodded. “Angels tend to leave a small remnant of grace after they vacate a vessel. Call it… ‘marking down their territory’ for future summonings or possessions.”

 

“That sounds kinky.” Cyrus joked.

 

“Dude, what kind of porn do you watch?” Astrid asked, loud enough to make the Winchester brothers blush upstairs.

 

“Ew, don't ask me that shit!” Cyrus grimaced.

 

“You just called angels kinky!” Astrid shouted back.

 

“Still!” Cyrus whined.

 

“Uhh… what the hell is going on?” Sam asked, finally closing the door and following the angel and the witches downstairs.

 

“Sorry…” Cyrus and Astrid apologized in unison.

 

“Just be grateful it's just the two of us and not the entire Rottmann clan.” Cyrus grinned. “Speaking of which-”

 

“There’s more of you?” Sam stopped cold in the middle of the stairs.

 

“Oh fuck no!” Dean accidentally almost pushed Sam down the stairs as he barrelled down the stairs like a madman. “You are an calling in more-”

 

“Chill out, dad.” Astrid rolled her eyes, unaware of what she had said.

 

Dean grimaced. “What did you just call me?”

 

"Oh God. Eww!" Astrid winced. “Jesus fucking Christ that was nasty as hell!” Astrid pulled a face and turned to Castiel who had wide eyes. “Just kill me now.”

 

“Uhh…” Cas tilted his head to the side. Confused, he lifted a hand to press it to her forehead.

 

Astrid spread out her arms welcoming death, but Cyrus pulled her by the arm before Cas could smite her. Sam shook his head repeatedly, like he was trying to dislodge the memory out of his brain. Dean opened his mouth and lifted a finger to complain, but he didn't know what to start off with. Astrid was blushing from head to toe. She hid her face on Cyrus’ shoulder and groaned.

 

“Look we came here to help you guys with whatever had Dean so stressed.” Cyrus made sure everyone was paying attention to him, except for Astrid who was probably wishing she was brain dead. “We know that you guys are trying to hunt fucking Satan down and we-”

 

Sam, who was slowly regaining his eyesight, interrupted Cyrus. “Why do you two have to curse so much?” Sam asked. He would have guessed that the rich kids would've been really formal instead of inappropriate. Sam took a step back when Astrid and Cyrus shot him a glare that could rival Bobby Singer's frown. “I'm sorry, go on.” Sam nodded to himself, watching Dean place himself between the witches and him.

 

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted.” Cyrus shot Sam a look. “We have several spells to track down mostly anything in existence.”

 

“Mostly anything,” Dean repeated. “We are talking about Lucifer here, not some lost ex boyfriend that you can use your hoodoo on.”

 

Astrid stepped in at that. “First of all, not hoodoo. Second of all, Cyrus is an expert tracker. He can find you an ant if you need it.”

 

Cas seemed to connect the dots about the conversation he was having with Astrid a couple of minutes ago. “You want Lucifer’s grace to track him down?”

 

“Well not exactly.” Cyrus walked over to the map table and sat down on a chair. Everyone else took a seat reluctantly, the Winchester brothers trying to sit as far from the Rottmann siblings as possible. “We could summon a bit of grace without him realizing we are doing it, but we've never tried with archangels… so we are not sure whether it would work. The other option is to find one of Lucifer’s old vessels.” Cyrus stopped when the Winchester’s and Cas shared uncomfortable looks and Astrid tensed up. “What?”

 

“Which one of you dumbasses said yes to Lucifer?” Astrid asked, half being able to read what Dean's worry really meant. She groaned when she saw Cas and Sam raising their hands reluctantly. “I'm not even going to ask why because I'm trying really hard not to read people's minds in here. Who did it recently?” She saw Sam and Dean glaring at Cas. The angel had the decency to look guilty, but there was something else in his face that set up alarm bells on Astrid’s brain. She accidentally listened to the alarm bells and opened up her mind to read Cas and Dean. Cas was harder to read, he was too loud and too alien to her, like listening to techno music with the bass amped up to the top. Dean was just anger and guilt all mixed up in an overwhelming feeling. Astrid closed her eyes and tried to ignore the vertigo. When she closed her eyes, she focused on blocking out Dean and slowly turning the volume down on Cas. When she recognized sadness and self-hate she mentally ran away from him.

 

“Astrid, you okay?” asked Cyrus.

 

“I accidentally opened up to them and now the room is a roller-coaster.” Astrid pressed her forehead to the table and sighed. “Cas, smite me before I throw up.

 

She heard Cas standing up from his chair. Cyrus shouted something along with Sam and Dean, but Cas had already pressed his hand to the back of her head. Astrid grimaced when the bass was back up in her head, but it slowly dulled down to a feeling instead of a sound. It was like the calm before one falls asleep, heavy eyelids and body relaxed. Astrid opened her eyes to find herself back in the lake from Dean's dream, Cas besides her.

 

“What?’” Astrid looked around. It was weird. She was aware of where she was and where she wasn't. Astrid was aware of Castiel touching her head and the men trying to pull him away from her; she also could feel the soft breeze playing with her hair and see Cas standing besides her.

 

“Think of this as your happy place.” Cas grimaced. “Or at least that's what humans call places like this.”

 

“Is this your happy place?” Astrid raised an eyebrow. This place felt like Dean, not Cas.

 

“I don’t… I didn’t,” he corrected himself and continued, “I didn't have any imagination when I first took this vessel. I went into Dean's head and well… I guess I liked the feelings he associates with this lake enough to be perfectly content to remain here for long periods of time.” Cas sat down on the foldable chair and motioned for Astrid to sit down besides him. “I don't need sleep, but my mind needs rest from time to time.”

 

“You associate this place to dreaming because Dean dreamed of being here?” Astrid guessed. Cas smiled at her. “Why did you bring me here? The guys are starting to panic out there.”

 

“I sense discomfort coming from you every time Dean and I are close. You are not used to being able to control your psychic abilities.” Cas picked up a beer from the floor and handed it to her. “Try and change the beer to something else.”

 

“Do I just think of a coke and-” the beer turned into a can of Coca-Cola. “Never mind.” She placed the can back on the floor.

 

“Your mental abilities will make it easy for you to change this place to your liking. As you can see, you are still aware of the outside world.” Cas placed a hand on her arm. “Try moving your real body.”

 

Astrid didn't find it hard to do it. She moved along with Cas as to not dislodge the hand on her head.

 

“Good, with practice you can come here without anyone realizing you are not entirely with them.” Cas nodded. "It should not be gard for you."

 

“This is just like a hardcore daydream, hot wings. Ain't that hard.” Astrid smiled and Cas took his hand away, leaving her alone in the lake.

 

The focus on the outside world became sharper, enough to place the lake at the back of her mind. She still felt relaxed. The guys sighed in relief and stepped back from Cas.

 

“Astrid, are you with me?” Cas (the real Cas) asked.

 

“Yeah.” Astrid nodded slowly.

 

“Why do you always call me hot wings?” Cas tilted his head to the side, making Dean chuckle under his breath.

 

“Because it rhymes with hot wheels and you are an angel.” Astrid focused on the lake to keep her face from showing more emotion than she intended. She wasn't going to explain to him how hot he was.

 

“That makes almost no sense.” Cas frowned and Dean burst into laughter. “What is it?”

 

“God! You are a lost cause.” Dean grinned. “Ok, teachable moment.” Dean cleared his throat. “She was calling you hot, buddy.”

 

“Now you made it weird.” Astrid complained, still not blushing. She wanted to pat herself on the back for that.

 

“You did it yourself, sweetheart.” Dean shrugged, giving her a wide grin and a wink.

 

“What did you just call me?” Astrid asked in a stage whisper.

 

“What did you just call her?” Cyrus shouted.

 

Astrid rolled her eyes and pushed Cyrus away before he could charge into Dean like a chihuahua attacking a pit bull. Cyrus wasn't small, but Dean looked like he could kill people with his pinky.

 

“Not to interrupt this wonderful conversation you've got going on her, but we do have to catch Lucifer and get him back into his cage.” Sam smiled politely.

 

“Fine,” Dean snapped and then turned his full attention to Astrid. “What's that I hear about a tracking spell?”


	9. Chapter 9

  
  


“I can't believe you are going to do this.” Dean slapped his hands on the table and stood up, pushing his chair back hard enough to make it fall. Astrid was the only one to jump back at the violent act. “Cas, I can't believe you gave them the fucking idea on the first place.”

 

Sam chose that moment to clear his throat. “Dean, the procedure is fairly simple and-’

 

“You've got no say in this!” Dean yelled. 

 

“What the hell, man?” Sam frowned. “What's got your panties-”

 

“Sam!” Dean interrupted him. “We are talking about sticking a huge ass needle to your neck.”

 

“Or Castiel’s neck,” Cyrus added.

 

“Dean, you heard the angel,” Astrid piped in. “The only way I'm getting the grace for my tracking spell is by extracting it directly from someone who was possessed by Lucifer.” 

 

“Dean,” Sam began. “Cas did this to me when Ezekiel possessed me. It's completely safe.” 

 

“Wait. You've been possessed by more than one angel?” Cyrus asked, Sam nodded. “Then we can't use you. There's no way we are gonna be able to differentiate between Lucifer's grace and that other angel's.” 

 

“Mierda,” Astrid cursed in Spanish. “Este pendejo no nos pudo avisar antes?” Which means: this pendejo (meaning pubic hair and used to call someone stupid) couldn't tell us earlier?

 

“We all understand Spanish in here.” Dean motioned to Sam, Cas, and himself with a finger and a glare.

 

“Good!” Astrid snapped.

 

“What about Cas?” Sam asked, trying to be the peace keeper between his brother and the witches. “He's technically possessing the body he is in.”

 

“I can push Lucifer's grace with mine and make sure they get all the grace they need.” Cas stood up.  “I'm going to retrieve the things we’ll need.”

 

“Cas!” Dean yelled after him.

 

“Dean?” Astrid called in a softer tone, awfully different from her tone five seconds ago. “I know you don't trust us and that your aggression means that you are worried about your family, but believe me when I say I'm not here to hurt anyone.”

 

“Well thanks for that, Dr. Oz.” Dean rolled his eyes, not expecting Astrid to laugh at that. He reluctantly smiled at that, Dean liked it alot when people laughed at his jokes. He frowned when he realized he was smiling. Which probably read his mind to know how to react.

 

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “Really? That’s what you find funny?” 

 

Astrid laughed a bit more before answering properly. “It's a freaking classic!” she said.

 

“Damn right it is!” Dean nodded in approval. He wasn’t hundred percent sure that she was or wasn't faking it, but he was going to act like she was legit.

 

Cyrus and Sam rolled their eyes just in time for Cas to walk into the room holding a wooden box in his hands. He placed it on the table in front of Cyrus, who pushed the box towards Astrid. She shared a slightly freaked out look with her brother before looking down at the box like a deer caught in the headlights. Sam saw all of this and stretched out his hand to grab the box from her. Astrid sagged in relief.

 

“When I did this to Sam, I had to restrain him to keep him from hurting himself.” Cas sat down next to Sam. “We have a dungeon for that.”

 

“A what?” Astrid asked with a frown at the same time that Cyrus said: “Dude, we can use a spell to numb your neck and keep you still.”

 

“That… seems like a good idea.” Cas shared a look with Sam. “I take it you have what you need to get your spell ready?”

 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Dean waved his hands around for emphasis. “Are we actually doing this?”

 

“Yes, Dean.” Sam groaned as he stood up from his chair. “I'll go ahead and prepare everything to stick this needle on Cas.” He pointed at the Rottmanns. “You two get your spell ready.” Sam saw Astrid and Cyrus nod. “Great, come on Cas.” He patted Cas on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow him.

 

Dean watched in horror as everyone else left the war room to do their separate tasks. He was still standing there while Astrid and Cyrus walked back into the bunker with a red Nike gym bag.

 

“Dude, where's your dungeon?” Cyrus asked. 

 

“I still can't believe you guys have a dungeon.” Astrid rubbed her eyes with a fist.

 

“Yeah, uhh it's right here.” Dean led them to the dungeon.

 

Cas was already strapped to a Dr. Frankenstein style chair. Sam was preparing the needle and making sure everything else was ready. Astrid and Cyrus tried not to focus on Sam as they set up to work on two different spells at the time. Astrid was carefully mixing different leaves and powders into a large wooden bowl. Cyrus was violently smashing ingredients with a mortar on ceramic bowl. Dean watched from afar how they worked like Santa's little helpers to get the spells done in record time. Cyrus finished first and switched places with Astrid. She murmured something unintelligible in ancient Greek and dropped one more item on the paste Cyrus had created. Nothing flashy happened. Both Astrid and Cyrus smelled the green paste and nodded to each other. 

 

“Is it ready?” Sam asked, needle ready. 

 

“Yup!” Astrid grabbed the small ceramic bowl and moved to stand next to Cas. “This is going to feel a bit cold, then it's going to burn a bit.” Astrid grabbed a brush from her back pocket that Dean hadn't seen before. “After the burning sensation, you'll feel like nothings going on. That means it's working.” 

 

Cas nodded and Astrid set up to cover Cas in the green paste. Astrid was careful to not get any of the goo on his clothes. She commented that he could've just taken off his clothes to which Cas responded that it was too late for that. 

 

When Astrid was done, she nodded to herself and returned to her original work. “Uhh… I'll need a bigger room for this spell.” She looked straight at Dean.

 

Having caught the idea, Dean eyed the small room they were in and nodded. He led Astrid and Cyrus into the dungeon they had used to keep Crowley locked in.  Astrid eyed the sigil on the floor and decided to work on the area that was an actual storage room. Dean watched as Astrid and Cyrus drew two huge circles with the the brown stuff they had made for the spell. They both worked on more intricate designs in the area between the two large circles until they almost ran out of the brown stuff. Astrid grabbed the remaining stuff and ate it. She honest to God ate the thing. Dean didn't know what was more disgusting, watching Astrid or watching Sam torture Cas. Nope, he was better off in this room with the crazy brothers.

 

Sam carefully knocked on the door before Dean opened the door for him. He was holding a vial filled with Lucifer's grace. It didn't look like any other grace. Dean though that grace always came in white so pure it kinda looked blue. Lucifer’s grace was like a star: bright, yellow, and warm. Cas entered the storage room just in time for Astrid to grab the grace vial. Dean silently wondered if she was going to eat the grace too.

 

When Astrid held the vial in her hand, it burned. She wished it was a physical burn, but it was burning her mind. She blocked the mental connection to it with what Cas had taught her about happy places. She opened up the vial and dropped some of the grace in an empty spot within the intricate design. She closed the vial and handed it back to whoever was standing closest to her. Dean grabbed the thing and proceeded to tuck it in one of Cas’ pockets. 

 

Cyrus waited for Alex to sit down in the middle of the circle. He grabbed a box of matches and set the ring on fire when Astrid nodded to him. The fire wasn't at all like when holly oil burned. It was soft and barely there. Subtle, like the first few seconds of setting paper on fire. Astrid was surrounded by the soft flickering flames. She had her eyes closed and her hands firmly set on her lap. Her posture was perfect, she looked like a Japanese monk trying to set the record for most time spent on a kneeling position.

 

She looked mesmerizing.

 

“She's going to stay there for a while unless whatever she's trying to track tries to snatch her soul.” Cyrus shrugged as Dean's eyes shot up in surprise. “Someone should stay here and slap her out of her trance if that happens.” 

 

“How do we know that's happening?” Cas asked before the Winchesters could. 

 

“She’ll move a lot.” Cyrus asked. “Thing is... “ Cyrus yawned. “She's using me to power up her spell and I'm tired.” Cyrus yawned again. “Is there somewhere where I can crash? I don't want to pass out on this concrete floors.” 

 

“I'll lead you to a guest room.” Sam said, pushing the smaller man into the hallway.

 

Dean and Cas shared a look. They silently decided to stay in the room to watch after Astrid. Cas lifted a hand and scratched his neck. It was clean, but his mojo didn't take away the sensation of being numbed out.

 

“Go take a shower, Cas.” Dean patted him on the shoulder. “Then grab Sam and head out to grab some lunch for all of us.”

 

Cas frowned. “Are you sure, Dean?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, go ahead. I'm starving.” 

 

Cas nodded. He gave one last look at Astrid before leaving Dean alone with her. Dean sighed and looked around the room for something to sit on. He knew he could push the shelves that worked as doors for the dungeon and grab the mental chair. There weren't any boxes big and strong enough to hold his weight. Because he was a lazy SOB, Dean sat down on the floor with his back pressed to a shelf. He considered grabbing his phone and finding a job for later. Instead, Dean focused on watching the lazy flames flickering on the floor. 

 

Sam and Cas returned to the bunker with burgers. Cas handed him a brown bag before heading out to give Cyrus the other one. Sam was somewhere else in the bunker eating and combing the Internet for a case. An hour and a half passes from the moment Cyrus set the sigils on fire to the moment that Cas entered the room to check on Dean. He eyed the, now empty, brown bag sittinf beside Dean on the floor and picked it up. 

 

“There's something weird about the other brother,” he said to Dean. “I can't tell whether he is entirely human, so Sam and i are investigating the issue. You stay with her until she wakes up.”

 

Dean nodded and turned his attention back to the witch surrounded by fire. Her long brown hair had been tucked into a messy bun before she starting working on the spell, she was wearing a white button up, jeans, and brown boots. Dean thought she looked pretty normal, like the type of person you wouldn't even give a second look in the streets. The pendant that hangs from a silver chain was glowing gently. The precious stone reflected the flickering of the flames in a way that Dean knew it had to be magical. 

 

Astrid twitched in her seat and the glow from her pendant died down a little. Dean stood up from his seat on the floor, worry flooding his nerves. Astrid flinched as if in pain. Dean panicked and moved to get her out of the trance she was in. The flames that surrounded her increased in strength. Astrid gasped loudly and the flames died when her eyes opened. Dean moved forwards and set a hand on her shoulder. Astrid didn't react to the touch, instead, she stared at the floor with a glazed look.

 

“Astrid?” Dean asked gently. 

 

“I'm fine,” she placed a hand on his. “I'm just confused and a bit overwhelmed.” She looked up at him and smiled. “I don't think I can stand up.”

 

“I'll help you.” Dean made her wrap an arm around his shoulders as he helped her stand up. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? Sleepy?” He started leading her out of the room. Astrid allowed him to do so, following him with closed eyes and her head on his shoulder. 

 

“Food?” Astrid asked with a hopeful tone.

 

Dean chuckled. “Yeah, Sam and Cas got some burgers.”

 

“Burgers?” Astrid asked with the same tone, opening her eyes and looking up at him with sleepy brown eyes. She looked like a kid that was just being told what Santa was. “I… time… adjust to information… food.” Astrid shook her head. “Cyrus should eat too.”

 

Dean frowned, thinking about what Cas had said about how the other Rottmann wasn't entirely human. “Yeah, Sam got some food for him.”

 

“Cyrus is sleeping. Can't do both.” Astrid rubbed her eyes and yawned. “I need a nap too.” She opened her eyes to realize that she was already in the kitchen. “Food!” She stumbled her way to one of the paper bags sitting on the table.

 

Dean chuckled again. “Are you always like this when you are tired?” he asked.

 

“Nope.” She shook her head and tipped over the contents of a bag, making a mess of fries over the (thankfully) clean table. “Just after pulling off big spells.” She started eating the fries with one hand and unwrapping the burger with the other. 

 

Dean laughed and helped her unwrap the cold cheeseburger. He wolf whistled when Astrid basically inhaled the burger with big clean bites. Astrid punched him in the stomach and continued to eat. Dean rubbed at his soft stomach and grabbed a spare burger for himself. They ate together, Astrid like she had never seen food before but had been stuck in etiquette classes her whole life. Dean ate more slowly because he had already eaten his own double cheeseburger. When Astrid finished she let out a long sigh and thanked Dean for the food.

 

“No problem.” Dean nodded, being a gentleman and disposing of the trash they both made. 

 

“Lucifer,” Astrid breathed out.

 

“You need to rest.” Dean was surprised that he wasn't jumping at the opportunity to get a lead on Lucifer. 

 

“I know, I know.” Astrid nodded slowly and carefully pressed her forehead against the table. “He is in L.A. and he's moving a lot. I can track him like a… uhh… what's the word.” Astrid lifted her head to glare at Dean like he was the one who knew the word. “Compass! That.” Astrid sniffed. “Ugh sueno como que estoy borracha…” which means: I sound like I'm drunk.

 

Dean laughed at that. He understood the phrase because it was repeated often in his Spanish soap operas. “Come on,” he said, standing up and coaxing her to stand up.

 

He led Astrid to a guest room that Sam had cleaned when they first found the bunker. The place was dusty, but Sam had been smart enough to place a large blanket over the bed for the dust. Dean carefully removed that blanket and let Astrid pass out over the covers. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, not knowing what to do. He awkwardly backed out of the room and closed the door behind him. He found Cas and Sam in the library with several books around them.

 

“Starting up the witch hunt without me?” Dean said. 

 

Sam didn’t acknowledge his presence, but Cas did. “Where's the witch?” Cas asked.

 

“She's asleep in room five.” Dean turned a chair around and sat down besides Cas. 

 

Sam pushed back his hair from where it had fallen on his forehead amd looked up at Dean. “Did the spell work?”

 

“Yeah.” Dean nodded. “She says Lucifer is L.A.”

 

“L.A.?” Sam grimaced. “Why?”

 

“Beats me.” Dean shrugged. “We need to keep the witch with us if we want the specific place he's in.”

 

“Dean.” Sam pushed back his book. “She's not a hunter. We can't bring her up to hunt Lucifer himself. She's gonna get herself killled.”

 

Cas nodded. “Sam has a point. I saw how her brother and her looked at the wooden box. They were scared… if they reacted like that to a simple needle, then we have no way to know that they'll behave themselves in the middle of a hunt.”

 

Dean groaned. “They probably won't even want to go with us to L.A.” Dean rubbed he bridge of his now. “Who are we going to call for help? Crowley?” Dean scoffed.

 

“Uhh… it's actually not a bad idea.” Sam cleared his throat when Dean glared at him. “Look, its L.A.! How many people would sell their souls for a- a-” Sam trailed off trying to think of something.

 

“Boob job? Nose job? Money? Acting gig?” Dean supplied. “Yeah, I get it now.” Dean pulled out his phone. “I'm gonna give him a call and tell him to meet us there.”

 

“Wait, what about the Rottmanns?” Sam asked.

 

“Let them rest, apparently trying to find track down archangel grace all the way to California will knock you out. We can wait until the narcoleptics wake up and then we kick them out.” Dean clapped his hands loudly and winked at Sam… at Sam who wasn't looking at him.

 

“I heard that,” Cyrus replied sarcastically. He was yawning and scratching his tummy. His blonde hair was a mess and his eyes were all puffy and tired. He walked over to take a seat besides Dean, but he saw the books spread out on the table. Sam and Cas had tried to discretely close the books and turn them around to hide the titles. Cyrus picked one up and rolled his eyes when he saw the title. “South East Asian witches,” he read out loud. “This one isn't gonna help you a lot.” He glared at the hunters and reached out for another book. 

 

“Cyrus…” Sam said weakly as he allowed Cyrus to take the book he was hiding under his elbow.

 

“Northern European witches! Now this one is gonna help you! Astrid comes from somewhere in Turkey or Netherlands.” He shook his head. “I was never good with geography, but we don't know much about her heritage.” He dropped the book and picked up the one closest to Sam. His glare dropped, his jaw glenched, and he let out a dry chuckle. “Humanoid creatures in the magic world.” Cyrus picked up another. “Witches and companions!” Cyrus smirked amd slammed the book on the table. The movement was enough to trigger the hunters into pointing their guns at Cyrus. “I recommend that one. Haven't read it yet, but the title promises a lot.” He ignored the guns and glared at the men. “We fucking came here to help with your childish hunting! I told Astrid to just cut off the bond with the Ken doll and let him die, but she wanted to find a more decent way out.” 

 

“Cyrus, please calm down,” Sam said in an even tone.

 

Cyrus scoffed and hunched, pressing his chin to his chest. “Are you gonna burn us at the stake?” Cyrus looked up and pressed his chest to Dean's gun who was closer to him. “Why don't you lower that gun and we fight the classic way?” Cyrus hummed, eyes darkening with the promise of violence.

 

“Stand back, Blondie.” Dean pushed him back with the barrel of his gun.

 

“Cyrus, we weren't looking for a way to hurt you,” Sam said, slowly rounding the table to stand besides Cas who was still sitting down. 

 

“Really? A bunch of hunters in a hunting library weren't researching about how to hunt witches?” Cyrus kept his eyes trained on Dean despite aiming every word at Sam. “Can't blame me for finding that hard to believe.”

 

“Look, I’m telling you to stand back.” Dean took a deep breath. “We are not looking for a fight.”

 

“Who's not looking for a - what the fuck is going on?” Astrid walked into the library and her eyes widened almost comically when she saw the guns and Cyrus’ darkening eyes. This was not just a figure of speech, his eyes were actually darkening. His irises were growing bigger and almost covering the white part of his eye. Cyrus would look like a demon if it weren't for his blue irises still visible. 

 

“It’s not a fight if they don't have the time to strike back.” Cyrus licked his lips and growled like a caged animal.

 

“Cyrus, stop!” Astrid ran up to him and stood between Cyrus and Dean like a human shield. She pressed her back to Dean and pushed Cyrus back with her hands on his shoulders. 

 

“What's going on?” Dean yelled, keeping his gun trained on Cyrus. “What's wrong with him?” he fixed his stance to be able to point his gun at Cyrus, this meant moving away from Astrid and closer to Castiel.

 

Cyrus dropped his smirk and took a step back from all of them. “You could have just asked me what I was and I would've gladly told you I was a defective witch familiar!” 

 

“Defective? How?” Sam asked, dropping his gun now that Cyrus looked calmer with Astrid holding him back. Dean didn't drop his stance and neither did Astrid.

 

“It means his blood is too diluted,” Astrid answered for Cyrus. “It means he wasn't able to transform into an animal before he hit five. He was too human, so his family gave him up for adoption and our parents took him in.” Astrid stepped back and looked at he books in the table.

 

Cyrus walked backwards until his back hit the wall. He let himself slide down until he was sitting with his head between his legs. Dean continue to aim a gun at him. Castiel stood up and placed a gentle hand on Dean's elbow. It didn't take more than that simple touch to make Dean finally lower his gun and return to his chair. Astrid picked up one of the books and took Castiel’s recently vacated chair.

 

“I thought you needed to rest,” Dean commented at the same time that Castiel offered a hand to Cyrus. They nodded to each other in silent agreement. A strange exchange between the less human beings in the room. Cyrus bowed his head in what appeared to be shame and moved to pull a chair closer to Astrid. Cas chose to stand next to Dean with his arms crossed.

 

“I do need rest.” Astrid read the index and opened the book in a certain chapter. “But apparently I can’t sleep in peace when there's so much testosterone in the air. Cyrus could've killed all of you if I hadn't walked in here when I did.”

 

Dean scoffed. “Honey, that ain't possible.”

 

“Don't call me that.” She glared at Dean. “Cyrus can't turn into an animal, but he can change some of his body parts for a half transformation.” Astrid gave up on reading the book and turned to Dean. “It hurts like a bitch, but not anymore with my excellent spell work.” She smiled proudly. “Cyrus could slap your face off with a bear claw faster than you could scream.”

 

“You sound like a proud soccer mom,” Cyrus muttered. He was staring down at his hands and hiding his face beneath his hair; a stark contrast to the sarcastic Cyrus that was usually there. Cyrus cleaned his throat and with a high pitched tone he said: “My son can kick a soccer ball better than your son. He got an A on math and will most likely win a scholarship to MIT.” Cyrus trailed off and looked up when nobody laughed. He wasn't expecting to see everyone looking at him with worried eyes. “Don't look at me like that.” He returned to focusing on his fingers. “Don't make it awkward,” he mumbled.

 

“I,” Sam began, but trailed off for a moment. He realized everyone was looking at him expectantly and decided to go ahead with what he was originally going to say. “I apologize for not being straightforward with you,” he began and continued, “but we are not used to being able to ask supernatural beings what they are and not getting killed in the process.”

 

“I get it, dude.” Cyrus grimaced. “Don't be a girl about it.”

 

“Hey!” Astrid slapped his arm. Cyrus chuckled.

 

Dean hummed. “Yeah, Samantha.” Dean also slapped his own brother's arm. “No chick flick moments.”

 

Cas, who didn't have a brother to slap, noticed what Astrid was looking for in the book she'd grabbed. He silently walked to stand behind her while Sam and Cyrus complained about being used as punching bags so often.

 

“Sam agrees with me! There's no need for such violence!” Cyrus yelled at one point. 

 

Cas shook his head and read the chapter's title. The book had dedicated an entire chapter on genealogy of witch types. Astrid had skimmed a good part of the chapter and had left the chapter open on a random page. Cas read said pages and knew that whatever Astrid was looking for wasn't going to be there. The book had taken to explain more about strength between clans and how did the members chose their ppartners. Apparently the strongest clans didn't frown upon incest to make the magic in their blood stronger. 

 

“What do you mean I'm not allowed to go to L.A. and hunt Lucifer?” Cyrus asked with a shout that was loud enough to distract Cas.

 

“First of all, we are not hunters, Cyrus.” Astrid glared at her brother. “Second, these guys already had plans to ditch us. Third, we have work to do and meetings with possible business partners and that one fat Texan dude who likes Guns ‘n Roses.”

 

“That does sound like a strong argument,” Dean agreed.

 

“Then I do see why we should hang around this creeps anymore.” Cyrus stood up. He placed a hand on the back of Astrid’s chair and looked at the open book. “Eww witches were into incest.” He grimaced. “Maybe your biological parents were-”

 

Unsurprisingly, Astrid punched him into silence. “Shut up!” She stepped away from him before he could do anything else. “Bye guys. Have fun with Satan.” She digged into her back pockets and pulled out a set of keys. “You are driving, I'm gonna take a nap.”

 

“Ugh… kay. Sayonara, dudes.”


	10. Chapter 10

The Winchesters plus Castiel had teamed up with Crowley once in L.A. with the idea that the demon would make things smoother for them to find Lucifer. Sam and Dean had frowned upon the idea of calling Crowley for help, but they had warmed up to him a little bit after a certain amount of time. Lucifer’s new vessel was an old rock star named Vince Vicente, he was hosting a private concert with a secret location. The Winchesters had tried their best to find out where the concert was going to be held, but they had returned empty handed just like Cas and Crowley had. Apparently, Lucifer new how to be exclusive. 

 

The three of them were sitting in the lobby of the hotel they had been booked at by Crowley. Dean was sipping on what he called “vegetable water” with the grumpiest face he could manage. Sam was just looking exhausted besides him. Meanwhile, Crowley was frowning at nothing in particular waiting for Cas to arrive. 

 

“This sucks,” Dean said and crushed the small paper cup in a fist.

 

“Cas!” Sam said when Cas walked in to take a seat on the free couch.

 

“Anything?” Dean asked Cas.

 

“No.”

 

Dean leaned forward on his seat.“So we couldn't flip a single member of Vince’s team. Even with the threat of mass murder, this so called douchebags won't do the right thing.”

 

“Welcome to Los Angeles,” Crowley said sarcastically.

 

“So what happens now?” Asked Cas, waiting for Dean to come up with a plan.

 

“Hell if i know!” Dean rolled his eyes. 

 

Cas tilted his head and aimed his frown at Dean. “Astrid could've found Lucifer with the grace spell she cast in the bunker.” Cas leaned forward to turn his frown into a full glare. 

 

“Oh for God's sake! Do shut up, Cas!” Dean threw the paper cup at him. He huffed when Cas caught it and disposed of it smoothly. “Since when were you such a with advocate, huh? You seem to like those two a lot. Maybe you should trade me and Sam for the witches.”

 

Cas swallowed up the need to correct his grammar and took a deep breath. “What I'm trying to say is that there may still be a way to use that spell to find Lucifer.”

 

“What do you mean, Cas?” Sam asked. “The Rottmanns are miles away from us and the concert is tonight. We might not get another chance to catch Lucifer like this.”

 

“I didn't mean to imply that we should call Astrid over here. We don't have time to wait for her.” Cas turned his attention to Dean. “I meant to say that Dean may be able to use their bond to use his own body as the receptor of the tracking spell.” 

 

“How?” Dean asked, half horrified and half interested. Sam also sat up with interest.

 

“I'm aware you have no abilities whatsoever for this.” Cas smiled when Dean glared at him. “I will assist you with this, but we should be somewhere else for this experiment.”

 

“Makin’ it sound like I'm a damned lab rat.” Dean stood up reluctantly and motioned for Sam and Cas to follow him upstairs to their room. 

 

Cas didn't let himself be goaded into an argument. “That's because this is a unique opportunity. No angel has had direct contact with an Empath and no normal human has been bonded to one as strongly as you and her have.” 

 

“Yay for us!” Dean rolled his eyes. “Is this going to be like the last time?” Dean asked, remembering how Cas had knocked him and Astrid out to check out their bond. It had been weird to share a consciousness with someone inside one of his dreams. Yes, he had done it before, but there was something different about Astrid’s mind.

 

“No, you'll be entirely conscious and you'll learn more about what a mental bond really is.” Cas pushed past the Winchesters when the elevator landed on their floor.

 

Sam and Dean shared a look and follow after the angel.

 

Once in the privacy of their room. Cas made Dean sit on the floor, claiming that there was more space. Dean didn't argue as he sat down with his legs crossed. Cas knelt behind Dean and placed a hand on his head. 

“I want you to close your eyes and focus on Astrid.” 

 

“Kay.” Dean closed his eyes and pictured Astrid. The first thing he remembered was when she had been sitting on the floor just like he was doing right now. He remembered how focused she looked on her magic, all frowns and pouts. “Now what?”

 

“I'm gonna guide your consciousness to the bond.” After a while, he added: “I'll be gentle or Astrid will swallow up your mind into her body because her mind is stronger than yours.”

 

“Hilarious.” Dean closed his eyes again and continued to remember what Astrid had looked like. He remembered the chalk on the floor, the wooden bowl, and Astrid. Brown hair, brown eyes, tanned almost brown skin but not quite, not exactly thin but fit enough to not be called chubby. Not exactly the type of girl would have flirted with at a bar.

 

Suddenly he was feeling odd, tired even. He felt hungry, stressed but somehow like he wanted to laugh at a joke, he had a sudden craving for pasta, and the need to listen to pop music.

 

“I'm in?” Dean frowned.

 

Back in Kansas, Astrid who was finally able to block out the “Dean feeling” on the back of her head, suddenly stopped laughing at Cyrus. She had been able to work out Cas’ “happy place” skill. She was sleeping better, she wasn't as aware of Dean as she had been, and she was able to focus when she needed it. It wasn't perfect because it was hard to maintain it for long periods of time. 

 

“Astrid, what happened?” Cyrus asked, bringing the car to a stop on a random parking lot. 

 

“Dude! I think Dean just found out how to read the bond!”Astrid shouted, trying to block out Dean away from her memories. It felt like someone poking her softly on the ear with a cotton ball.

 

“Cas! She's doing something to me,” Dean said, feeling like his brain was being squished but it wasn't painful. He felt the Cas’ grace curl up somewhere inside his head to keep his mind safe.

 

Astrid pushed her mind through the bond and screamed at Dean without actually saying a word that Cyrus heard. “Dean what the hell are you trying to do? You are lucky I recognized your mind your brain would be leaking out of your nostrils.”

 

Dean blinked in surprise and reached back to slap Cas on the arm to call his attention. “Cas, how do I talk to her?” 

 

“I heard that, dumbass.” 

 

Dean felt her rolling his eyes. It was like he could feel her but not see her, like a sixth sense.

 

“It’s not a sixth sense,” Astrid said through the bond. “What do you want, Dean?”

 

“Uhh…” Dean gulped and looked at Sam for answers. 

 

Sam raised an eyebrow in confusion. He had no way to know what Astrid was saying and Dean had trouble with getting that. Suddenly, Cas’ phone rang and he almost took his hands off Dean's head.

 

“Sam, take my phone and get out of the room.” Cas frowned at the coat pocket that held his phone and Sam did as asked.

 

“Dean?” Sam and Astrid asked at the same time.

 

Dean just stared at the floor until he remembered he needed Astrid’s help.

 

“Help with what?” Astrid frowned. “I can't keep trying to decipher all your superficial thoughts, Dean. There's an easier way to communicate.”

 

“We need help with Lucifer. Cas said you might be able to use whatever remained of your spell so that I could use it.” Dean felt something like understanding being sent through the bond. 

 

“Alright, you are lucky the spell is still available. It works like a compass. You'll know what I'm talking about when you feel it.”

 

“Great!” Dean said out loud. “How do we do thi-” Dean couldn't finish his sentence because a strong wave of nausea hit him and he bent over. Cas let go of him to keep his body from falling. Dean didn't protest as Cas basically pulled him against his chest to keep him steady. Nausea turned into pain and this pain turned into a cold soothing feeling that screamed magic and not angelic grace. 

 

“Dean?” Cas asked, letting Dean go.

 

“I know where he is.” Dean dug into his pockets and pulled out his phone. “Tell Sam and Crowley to meet us at the Impala.”

 

Cas obliged and began dialing numbers on Dean's phone. Sam met them on the parking lot, telling Cas that one of Lucifer’s band members was willing to take them to the concert. Dean brushed him off and waited for Crowley to arrive. It didn't take the demon more than a couple of minutes to appear in the back seat with an annoying smile. The demon looked eager to participate in the battle with Lucifer. 

 

Back in Kansas, Astrid frowned to herself.

 

“I don't understand,” Astrid whispered.

 

“What?” Cyrus asked with a worried frown.

 

“If they are hunting Lucifer… how are they gonna uhh ‘hunt’ him?” Astrid grimaced. “I… don't know if I'm making any sense.”

 

“No, no, I think I get it.” Cyrus crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wheel. “They didn't look too ready to hunt down Lucifer when we were at their bunker. Didn't see any intricate spells or shiny weapons.”

 

“Well, maybe we should give them the benefit of the doubt.” Astrid shrugged. “They look like the kind of people to keep things low-key.”

 

“Astrid, they had a shitload of books about watches and magic related creatures when I walked in on them. Doesn't look low-key to me.” Cyrus angrily restarted the car’s engine. “I'm hungry, you can call your mate later to see how the hunt went.” Cyrus smirked and led the car back to traffic.

 

“Eww don't use that word. That's nasty.” Astrid faked a gag reflex. “Why tho?” 

 

“Y’know,” Cyrus replied, holding back laughter. “As in soul mates.” 

 

“Eww.” Astrid slapped his arm hard enough to leave a red mark under his shirt. Cyrus laughed loudly instead of hissing in pain. He flinched when Astrid made a move to slap him again. “That’s gay.” Astrid grimaced. She and Cyrus referred to overly romantic things as gay, something they'd picked up during high school and had stuck. 

 

“Gay as in happy? Because you too wouldn't make a happy couple,” Cyrus teased. “Your children would be so ugly.” Cyrus grimaced. “Now that's a nasty though.”

 

Astrid grimaced as well. “It is. Eww. Please don't ever talk about my uterus ever again.”

 

“I'm sorry. That was disgusting. There are too many kids out there and you and I would only give birth to monster children.”

 

“‘Give birth’, huh?” Astrid repeated. “Didn't know you could do that.” She smirked.

 

“That's not what I meant and you know it!” Cyrus shouted, clenching his jaw to keep his focus on the road. 

 

Astrid laughed. “Don't worry Miley I'll give you a Midol when we are back at the hotel.”

 

“I hate you so much.” Cyrus gripped the steering wheel tighter.

 

“You can't,” Astrid started off with a teasing sound, but then she sohered up. “You are my familiar. You can't live without me and I can't live without you.”

 

“Guess we are stuck together then.” Cyrus lifted his fist up for a bro fist. Astrid immediately answered with her own fist.“Until we both run out of magical energy and die a slow and painful death.”

 

Astrid sighed. “Dude, that's depressing and theoretical. We are okay as long as we feed off of each other like a true familiar-with combo.”

 

“Friendly reminder that I'm not a true familiar and you are three times stronger than me.” Cyrus avoided eye contact with her and stared at the van riding in front of them with a forlorn expression. “You need more than I can give.”

 

“We'll find a way, Cyrus.” Astrid placed a hand on his arm. “We… maybe we… we could ask the Winchesters for help,” Astrid whispered. “Maybe they have something in that huge library that can help us.”

 

“Yeah, maybe.” Cyrus remembered the alarming amount of books Sam had besides him a couple days ago. It looked like he had just pulled out a few books to simply start off an investigation. He wondered what Sam would do if given the chance to research on Astrid and him.


	11. Chapter 11

 

Unsurprisingly, Lucifer managed to escape from the Winchesters. Lucifer's current vessel was so mangled he had to flee the scene without it. Dean was able to save the band members from getting murdered backstage thanks to Astrid’s spell. Dean had felt like a bloodhound with the tracking spell. Instinct had overridden his senses and guided him straight to Lucifer. After getting their ass kicked by Lucifer, saving the band members, and the crew Lucifer had gathered for the concert, Dean had decided to drive back to their hotel.

 

The spell had started weakening as Lucifer fled far from the spell’s reach. Dean wondered if it was the spell running out of juice or just him running out of stamina. He made a mental note to ask Astrid about it when he had a chance. 

 

“I'm calling it a win.” Dean shrugged. “We saved everyone in there.” He turned to look at Cas who was sitting in the back seat with his hands firmly set on his lap. Crowley had gone back to whatever it was he was doing. 

 

Sam huffed and shook his head besides him. “I wouldn't call it a win.”

 

“Why not?” Dean frowned. “We saved everyone in there.”

 

“No, Dean. Vince Vicente still died after Lucifer exited his vessel.”

 

“Look, I know that the third album-”

 

“It's not about that, Dean. Vince was still a person and-”

 

Dean’s frown turned into a full scowl. “Look, we knew he was done for the minute Lucifer set up shop.” 

 

“Sam’s right, Dean. Lucifer is even more dangerous now that he doesn't have a plan and he's just aiming to hurt people.” Cas leaned closer to the window, making himself look smaller. “This is all my-”

 

Dean exploded. “You finish that sentence and I'll-”

 

“Dean, Cas, please stop fighting.” Sam gave them both a taste of his cold glare. “We need to figure out our next move regarding Lucifer and the Rottmanns.”

 

Cas answered before Dean could snap at Sam. “The witch and the familiar appeared to have a high usefulness during this hunt despite being in a different state than us. The bond between the witch and Dean isn't as time sensitive as hunting Lucifer. We could ask the Rottmanns to aid in our hunt and use the bond as a tool.”

 

“Gee Cas, way make a guy feel useful!” Dean glared at Cas through the rearview mirror. Cas answered with a frown.

 

Sam waited for them to relax, but it didn't happen. “Cas is right, Dean. Perhaps we should go back to Kansas and check on them,” Sam said.

 

“Fine,” Dean grumbled. 

 

They arrived at the bunker and slept for a day. Cas didn't need the rest, so he grabbed his keys and went to find Astrid and Cyrus. He went straight to the hotel they had been to and went up to their room. Nobody answered when he knocked on the door, but Cas was patient.

 

Two hours later and many odd looks from other guests, Cas heard Astrid’s voice as she talked about costs and employees. Cas straightened his stance and blinked when Astrid stopped talking even before seeing him. He hadn't expected to be able to sense him from the distance. Astrid told Cyrus about him and approached Cas with a smile.

 

“Hey Castiel!” Astrid smiled politely and reached out to kiss his cheek in greeting. 

 

Cas froze, but Astrid didn't look like she noticed. Cyrus slapped Cas on the back and grinned at the awkward reaction. 

 

“Hello Astrid, Cyrus.” Cas nodded stiffly in greeting. 

 

“Man, I thought Americans were stiff, but angels take the cake.” Astrid smirked and pushed Cas away from her door. 

 

“What did you expect? A French greeting?” Cyrus mocked Astrid by kissing the air twice like he was kissing someone's cheeks in greeting. 

 

Astrid giggled and opened the door. “Do come in,” she said and led both men inside the room. 

 

Cas noticed that there were more bags around the room. Plastic bags sat in a pile in a corner and paper work was spread out all over the desk and beds.

 

“We are gonna pack because we are moving to suite. It wasn't available when we arrived so… yeah.” Astrid began stacking the paperwork in order and Cyrus began shoving things into suitcases. “Are you here for something urgent, or can you wait a bit? We really need to get out of here ASAP.”

 

“I can help you pack.” Cas offered.

 

“Great! You can help me get all of this documents into that box.” Astrid smiled at him and started working. 

 

They packed everything quickly and took two trips to carry everything up to the suite. It was large, with a dining room, small kitchen, two rooms, and a living room. Astrid and Cyrus quickly dropped their bags on their respective rooms while Cas stood awkwardly in the dining room.

 

Astrid finished first and went to meet Cas at the table. She motioned for him to take a seat while they waited for Cyrus. When Cyrus walked in, he grabbed one of the decorative fruits in the middle of living room and took a bite. He hummed and went to seat next to Astrid.

 

“What's up?” he asked Cas.

 

“We need your help hunting down Lucifer.” 

 

“Uh-” Cyrus stopped chewing and looked at Astrid. 

 

Astrid was glaring at the door way before Cas had started to speak. Cyrus picked up on that and turned his attention to the door just in time to hear footsteps on the other side. They were heavy and held a weird rhythm. Cyrus had enhanced senses because he was a familiar, they weren't too impressive but they sure did come in handy.

 

Cyrus stood up silently and went to open the door for the Winchester brothers before Dean knocked. They both gasped in surprise. Cyrus didn’t give them time to explain themselves or even recover from the surprise. 

  
  


“Cas was telling us about your stupid idea to pull of a second suicide mission.” Cyrus grinned at Sam and Dean. “He's at the dinner table with Astrid. Come on in.” 

 

Both brothers didn't have the energy to argue and followed Cyrus. They saw Astrid waiting for them with a raised eyebrow, her foot anxiously tapping the floor. Cas was sitting in front of her and looking down guiltily at his hands. They didn't say anything to them as they took the seats besides Cas. Cyrus sat down on the chair besides Astrid and grabbed his apple once again.

 

“Do you guys even have a plan?” Astrid raised an eyebrow. 

 

“... not exactly.” Cas scratched the back of his head in a too human gesture. “We lost him on our last attempt.”

 

Cyrus huffed. “As much as we'd love to chase Lucifer around the country, we are kinda busy with setting up business over here.” He rolled his eyes. “Dad's anxious to see this project finished. If we fuck up he's gonna send the entire Rottmann clan up here and crucify us.”

 

Before Cas commented on the choice of words, Astrid opened her mouth. “What he's trying to say is that we don't have enough time to hang out with you guys when there's no plan. I could still re-activate the tracking spell, but it takes a lot out of my magic reserve and then I have to take some of Cyrus’ to maintain the spell.”

 

“Friendly reminder that I'm not a true familiar so I don't have a lot of magic stored in me for Astrid to use.” Cyrus shrugged. “We could probably keep it up for a week without getting to a point of… uhh…”

 

“Gross vomiting and migraines?” Astrid offered. Sam and Dean grimaced. 

 

“Yeah that.” Cyrus pursed his lips and nodded.

 

Cas frowned. “A week?” He looked between Astrid and Cyrus, settling on frowning at Astrid. “You are a stronger witch than that.”

 

“I can't use too much magic without it being dangerous.” She shrugged. 

 

“Your lineage is far ancient than you’ve ever imagined.” Cas straightened out his stance. 

 

“I don't know what that means, but Cyrus and I have to keep our magic in check.” Astrid shared a worried look with her brother. “Witches are meant to produce magical energy and Familiars are meant to guard it and build up a reserve.”

 

“We use that reserve to be able to transform into our animal and to give it back to the witch when they need it the most.” Cyrus glared at the hunters. “We are only sharing this info with you guys because Dean-o here is half bonded to my sister.”

 

“Half?” Dean asked. 

 

“Yeah, half. Full bonds need love and an actual blood pact to complete them.” Astrid sighed. “Cyrus and I bonded when we figured out how to do it without killing each other. It's a complete bond, but it's not as strong as it should be because Cyrus isn't able to.”

 

“Why?” Sam asked. “Is it because of the… love thing?” he asked more carefully, receiving glares from everyone in the room. “No offence though, but Cyrus doesn't look like… ok I'll shut up now.”

 

“Love is a spectrum,” Cas said in a low voice. He was looking down at his fingers splayed on the wooden surface of the table. He sighed and continued. “Humans have twisted the meaning of love into something sexual.” He looked up at Sam and Dean, focusing more on the older brother. “There are many ways to love someone and I can clearly feel how strong the love between Astrid and Cyrus is.”

 

“I love my sister.” Cyrus glared at Astrid when she grinned. “But my body wasn't made to accept a bond with a witch, much less one who's as strong as Astrid. The same thing that keeps me from turning into an animal and safekeeping Astrid’s magic is keeping me away from bonding with her like a true familiar.”

 

“Do you know what it is?” Dean asked. 

 

“My blood is too diluted.” Cyrus bit his apple. “My mom kinda cheated on my mom with someone too human and she had twins but not enough magic for both. My brother was able to shape shift when we were four. He was running around like a wolf and I was barely able to make my baby nails grow into claws.” Cyrus lifted a hand and demonstrated. His nails grew like a werewolf's and hair began to grow on his fingers. “My dad saw him and broke his neck.”

 

“Why?” Sam raised his voice and gasped.

 

Astrid placed a hand on top of her brother's claws and they slowly began to recede with her help. “Shape-shifting works like hair color. A blonde mom and a blond dad will have blond kids.”

 

“My mom and dad were both bear shifters.” Cyrus thanked Astrid with a look and flexed his hand. “My mom turned herself into a bear and ran away with me on her mouth. I have some scars in my back because of that. She dropped me off somewhere safe and ran away.” Cyrus cleared his throat, feeling like the air was becoming heavier around him. “I'm guessing that my dad found her and killed her.” Cyrus looked up straight at Sam. “It doesn't matter because I would've died if I hadn't been adopted and met Astrid. Someone as weak as me needs someone as strong as Astrid. The only issue is that Astrid needs someone stronger than me to have some breathing space.”

 

“I'm guessing you die without enough magic?” Dean felt angry. Both kids had been dealt an ugly hand on their childhood, had gotten a silver platter later in life only to be chased down by their horrible childhood no matter what. 

 

There was something else bothering him. They had both spoken about bonds and shit, but hadn't mentioned the bond between Astrid and him. The idea that Astrid had bonded them together on purpose looked ridiculous now that Dean was getting to know her. He needed to know more.

 

“What if one of you bonds with a human?” Sam asked before Dean even knew what he needed to ask.

 

“They are mostly impossible to pull off.” Astrid glared at Dean. “You’d need like… fifteen mes to pull that shit off and for the partners to be madly in love with each other.”

 

Cyrus continued. “I read about it in a book in China. The bond was completed correctly, but the witch and the human weren't able to communicate telepathically at all. They were barely able to send feeling of well-being or distress through the bond. It was useless at a distance and didn't work for much else. The witch wasn't able to share his magic with the familiar and later refused to find a familiar to bond with because he didn't believe in polygamy or something like that which is just bullshit if you ask me. Magical bonds are not the same as getting married, it's more permanent. He died eventually and took his wife along for the ride.” Cyrus shook his head. “Fucking selfish asshole.”

 

There was silence in the room while everyone digested the story. The only sound was of Cyrus chewing on his apple, glaring at the window as if he could hurt the man he had been talking about with his anger alone. Sam was mentally trying to make sense of the magic.

 

Dean was staring at Astrid like she was one of those cancer kids wearing a Make A Wish t-shirt at Disneyland. He stopped to consider what he had just through and realized that the statement was true. She was staring down at her intertwined fingers and chewing her lip. Dean thought about the bond between them and wondered for a short moment if he could help her out somehow. Dean shook his head and tightened his jaw. He had just been told that humans couldn't help witches. He couldn't help and he didn't want to keep the bond with the Empath.

 

“Dean, you are thinking too loud.” Astrid grabbed the quartz hanging from her neck and looked up at him. “You are only going to hurt yourself if you keep going.”

 

“Did you bond with me on accident or did you try some stupid ass spell?” Dean said quickly, barely and allowing Astrid to finish her sentence. 

 

“I just woke up one day feeling like shit and realized it was you.” Astrid glared. “If I had been given a choice I would have chosen a human with a good mental health.” She pushed her chair back and let it drop to the floor. Astrid huffed and ran away to her room.

 

Cyrus just looked at her go away and shared a look with Sam. Castiel sighed and slowly turned around to glare at Dean. Sam and Cyrus were uncomfortable and waited for Dean to react.

 

“Is it true?” Dean asked Cyrus in a gruff tone.

 

“Yeah, right after the sun was about to die, but turned out to be a really intense solar eclipse,” Cyrus replied.

 

“That wasn't a solar eclipse.” Cas shook his head. “It was God's sister trying to end the world.”

 

Cyrus didn't answer for a moment. He stared at Cas for a long time expecting to see the angel laugh and yell “SIKE” but the angel didn't move a muscle. Cyrus looked at Dean who was just looking exhausted and angry. He then looked at Sam who looked apologetic.

 

“I'm sorry, it's a long story.” 

 

“Did God's sister do anything weird besides the sun and shit?” Cyrus asked. 

 

“Uhh…” Sam looked at Dean. “She uhh talked to Dean and uhh… brought our mom back to life.”

 

Cyrus blinks twice and slowly parts his lips. “I'm… not even gonna ask about that.” 

 

“She said it was a gift,” Dean whispered. “That I had given her what she needed the most and she wanted to return the favor.” Dean looked up at Sam. “I fixed her relationship with her brother and she gave me back mom.” 

 

Sam nodded and lowered his head. He felt his eyes sting with unshed tears. Cas sensed the same in Dean and placed a heavy hand in his shoulder. Dean placed his own hand on top of Cas’ and smiled. 

 

“Dean,” Cyrus muttered. “Is there any chance that God's sister bonded you with my sister?”

 

“What?” Dean frowned. 

 

“When I felt the bond between the witch and Dean, it felt familiar in a sense.” Cas sighed. “Dean, I believe Cyrus may be onto something. When I prodded the bond, it was tied to your soul and wrapped in darkness I've only felt in Amara.”

 

“I'm tired of being bound to curses and random people.” Dean stood up. “First it was the mark of Cain, then Amara who wanted to use me as a sex slave and eat my soul.” Dean ignored Cyrus’ surprised look. “And now Astrid.”

 

“You must admit Astrid is the less dangerous of the three.” Sam joked.

 

“I wouldn't say that,” said Cas, tilted his head to the side with a shrug. “Considering that we can't kill her without putting Dean's life in danger, the witch will be a bigger issue.”

 

“Yeah, killing her would've been much easier,” Dean commented, meaning for Cyrus to hear it clearly.

 

“I'm right here and the walls aren't that thick, assholes!” Astrid shouted from her room.

 

Dean flinched and Cyrus grimaced. Cas remained still while Sam sat there and watched the other men react in their own way. He found that he was the least likely to get in trouble with Astrid. It was mainly because he didn't feel the need to actually talk to her or about her. Cyrus, the other hand, annoyed the hell out of him.

 

Astrid came out of her room wearing tight jeans, an oversized black T-shirt, and pink socks. She pushed past Dean, making sure to bump against him with her shoulder. Dean glared at her, but was speechless due to the shock of being overheard. It was kinda ironic because Dean should've know that Astrid could've just read his mind through the bond. Sam stared in wonder as Astrid gave Dean a glare and stood behind Cyrus. 

 

“Do you guys need anything else or can you leave?” Astrid asked in mock politeness. “I could call room service for some coffee and pastries so you can keep complaining about your poor life choices and discussing how to either get rid of us or using us to hunt down fucking Lucifer!” Astrid shouted the last few words and tightened her grip on the back of Cyrus’ chair. 

 

“Astrid, chill.” Cyrus grimaced.

 

“No, it's okay.” Dean slapped Sam's shoulder and pulled him up. “We were only looking for Cas and we found him so we are leaving now.” Dean patted Cas on the shoulder and headed to the door. “It's not like I want to be here longer than needed, don't wanna interrupt your beauty rest for rich kids and all that.”

 

Cas hesitated to stand up, but he didn’t want to anger Dean any further. He barely understood the reason for so much sarcasm and hostility. He was tempted to read their minds, something that he hadn't considered for a long time until Astrid reminded him what it was like to seek out another person's feelings or thoughts. A skill mostly reserved for celestial beings. 

 

“Cas!” Dean yelled, facing him and still pulling Sam along.

 

“Leave.” Astrid’s eyes glowed with an intense yellow light and the door flew open behind Sam and Dean who had their backs to it. 

  
Dean and Sam shared a look of anxious fear. Cas noticed the look and decided to stand up and lead the brothers out before they started yelling exorcisms at the witch and familiar combo. Dean and Cas stuttered complains as Cas pushed them out of the large suite. Cas gave them both a warning look and closed the door behind them with his grace.


	12. Chapter 12

Dean stared at the closed door and could only think about yellow eyes on annoying brunette girls. It was obvious that he was thinking about the yellow eyed demon and his lost childhood. He was so bent into memories of his dad muttering about yellow eyes in his sleep and actually fighting the demon year ago that he didn't notice that Cas continued to push him away from the suite.

 

“Cas…” Dean didn't know what he wanted, but Cas sensed his discomfort and stopped. “She…”

 

“I know, Dean.” 

 

“You knew?” Sam asked with disbelief and mistrust. “What do you mean?”

 

“I wasn't sure, but there was an ancient clan of witches that began from the union of a fallen angel and a very powerful witch.” Cas pressed the button to call the elevator and waited until the three of them were inside. 

 

“Is she a nephilim witch?” Dean raised an eyebrow. “That seems a little overboard.”

 

“Her blood should be too diluted to be anywhere near what a nephilim should be, otherwise I would've known on our first interaction. The only remnants of grace in her lays within her magical powers which means nobody can sense them. It's the only reason she's capable of reading minds and sensing feelings. With the right training she might be able to do so without any physical contact.” Cas sighed. “This is complicated.”

 

“You think?” Dean snapped and rolled his eyes.

 

“Witches are either born with power or they take it from a demon. Astrid’s ancestors were born with power, but one of them set up a deal with one of the first fallen angels.” Cas saw Sam’s eyes widen and Dean sigh. “That fallen angel was already a demon by the time he made a deal with her clan.”

 

“Great!” Dean shook his head and stepped into the parking lot with Sam and Cas behind him. “Of course she's a demon witch.”

 

Cas rolled his eyes at the terminology, but didn't argue with Dean. “That's not the issue here,” Cas said.

 

“Oh really? The fact that she's kind of a nephilim demon witch isn't the problem here?” Dean snapped. 

 

“No, it's the fact that she only grows stronger day by day and that her clan was murdered by angels because of her ancestor.” Cas watched Sam understand the issue immediately and Dean frown in confusion. “May I remind you that the bond isn't complete, but it's strong enough to kill you if she dies and vice versa?” Dean visibly hesitated to reply. “We need to find away to cut the bond safely before she dies.”

 

“We can't just let her die, Cas,” Dean replied weakly, anger blurring into exhaustion. 

 

“Dean, there may be nothing we can do about that.” Sam placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. “I'm sorry, but it's the only way to save you.”

 

Dean shrugged off his hand. “There's always something and she's an innocent person, Sam.”

 

“We don't know that! She's a witch after all and she could be lying to us about everything.” Sam glared and looked at Cas for support.

 

“I know what bad people look like and I've shared a Vulcan mind meld with her. She may be annoying as hell, but she's not a bad person, Sam,” Dean said. 

 

Cas sighed. “Sam may be right.” Cas flinched when Dean glared at him instead. “The only way we can save her without forcing anyone else to bond with her would be to find out what's wrong with Cyrus or make you available as a magic container.” Cas pointed at Dean reluctantly. 

 

“Me?” Dean grimaced. “Because of the bond? Won't that make her like… super dependant on me to live?”

 

“It would also make you stronger and able to do more complicated spells than before,” Cas replied. “Bonds like this go both ways, Dean.” Cas looked down at his shoes for a moment and then up at the shocked brothers. “Chances of this working are almost zero to none considering that Dean doesn't have familiar ancestors and that he doesn't have a strong relationship with Astrid.”

 

“You speak like you've seen it before,” Dean accused. “What are you not telling us?”

 

“Her clan was famous for not dying of old age. Even the ones who found familiars ended up using spells stronger than them for the greater good.” Cas cleared his throat. “This of course made it easier to find them.”

 

“How do you know all this?” asked Sam.

 

“Who do you think was sent to murder her clan?” Cas snapped. “I murdered innocent children and adults whose only purpose was to help the people living in their community because they could. Uriel and I hunted down every single family member except for her. We thought we did, but her grandmother had switched her with an orphan baby and placed a concealing spell on her. We didn't have to kill many of them because they usually committed suicide or sacrificed themselves by using spells stronger than them to heal people on the verge of dying.”

 

“Cas…” Sam tried, but Cas glared at him.

 

“I've only known her for a couple of days and I've already seen her selfless self-destructive personality shining bright for us. The tracking spell and the lack of nightmares Dean has had are only the start. I suggest we help her bond correctly with Cyrus instead of just allowing her to die.” Cas stomped off towards his stolen truck.

 

“Cas!” Sam shouted after him, but the angel was already turning on the engine of his truck and driving off.

 

Dean glared at his truck and then repurposed his glare for Sam. Without a word, Dean headed towards the driver's seat and waited for Sam to get in before driving away from the hotel.

 

“Dean, I-”

 

Dean interrupted him. “Look, I understand how you feel about her, but I'm not gonna let her die just like that.”

 

Sam nodded. “Do you really think Amara bonded her with you?”

 

“Yes, Cas said so too.” Dean shrugged and pursed his lips. “I just don't understand why she would do that. I don't think she meant to… to tie me up in a way that would kill me.”

 

“Maybe Astrid’s powers will help us. I don't know and I don't trust her and Cyrus.” Sam looked at Dean to gauge his reaction, but Dean remained impassive. “You can't expect me to just accept that we are hanging out with witches.”

 

“You were cool with the twins back at Asa’s funeral.” 

 

“They were hunters, Dean,” Sam replied with frustration. 

 

“Their mom is a witch, Max is a witch.” Dean shrugged. “Not so different from Astrid and Cyrus.” 

 

“Dean, they are completely different. We don't even know how they managed to buy an company so fast without much fuss. They probably don't even have work VISAs or-”

 

“Sam, I'm gonna stop you there because that was borderline racist, but I understand where you are coming from.” Dean gave Sam a look to tell him that he was completely serious. “I'd like to take a look on that family history, there's too much money in one family and that kinda smells like demon deal to me.”

 

“I… didn't even consider the possibility,” Sam admitted. 

 

“That was because you were to busy demonizing Astrid and Cyrus to see the bigger picture.” Dean took a deep breath and tried not to raise his voice with Sam. “Astrid mentioned something about hunting demons anyway. If anything was creeping around her family, I'm sure she'd take care of it. I'm not worried about that. Just curious, but we don't have enough time to waste on their family issues. We need to look out for Lucifer and check out the familiar issue.”

  
“Yeah,” Sam replied without an ounce of commitment.


	13. Chapter 13

Astrid stared at the closed door for a solid five minutes before Cyrus had the guts to stand up and go to her. The shock of hearing people discuss her mortality in front of her brother with such casualness made Astrid angry. The issue with anger was that it was a secondary emotion, she felt dread over the possibility of death in the far to near future. She hated it. She hated her magic. She hated that she was dragging Cyrus and Dean with her, more so Dean because Cyrus would survive the breaking of the bond. She hated that she didn't have a choice.

 

“Astrid…” Cyrus touched her elbow and was surprised at the burning pain that welcomed him. He knew what it was. It was magical energy scaping Astrid’s body; too fast for him to take into his own body. He hissed and jumped back, his skin red like he had just touched something too hot.

 

“Cyrus!” Astrid stepped away from him, her knees hitting the arm of the nearest couch.“I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” she muttered as she forced her body to relax. She was leaking magic like crazy. Usually she just needed to concentrate on her emotions and she'd be good to go.

 

Instead of relaxing, tears slowly began rolling down her face. Her hands were shaking awfully and her heart was beating faster like it knew there was something missing so it tried to pump blood faster. She slowly made her way to the couch where she sat down and hid her face with her hands. Cyrus sighed and sat down besides her, placing a pillow on his shoulder to place her head on. She immediately complied and continued to cry, carefully keeping her hands away from him.

 

“Cyrus, I'm gonna die.” She looked up at him, letting the pillow fall to their laps. “I'm gonna die and you'll have to deal with the broken bond by yourself because we have no one who knows how to help us and- and-”

 

“Astrid, we knew this.” Cyrus raised a hand as if to wipe her tears but the air was heavy with power. “We knew this ever since we pulled off the ritual back in Brazil.”

 

“I know, but it's been years and death hasn't been closer. You can't even touch me because I'm… I'm like this… I'm too much right now.”

 

“Astrid we've always known this would happen. The hunter issue is just a given bonus of course.” Cyrus slowly placed a hand on her head. He forced his body to accept the magic even if he couldn't contain it properly. It was like drinking too much water and then running to the bathroom to pee water; a gross comparison, but nevertheless the truth. “Look, we have the hunter’s library. We can give it a try and find something to fix me or something else to help you.”

 

“Like what? Using gemstones to harness my magic just in case I run out? We tried that when we tried to see how much time I could stay away from you and I passed out in front of grandma.” Astrid glared at him. “She freaked out a lot and thought I was bulimic.”

 

“Yeah that was kinda funny.” Cyrus chuckled and wasn't surprised when Astrid punched his leg.

 

“Cerote, we were having a moment here.” Astrid shook her head. (Cerote means shit.) “I don't want to ask the hunter's for help. It's… degrading... “

 

“Is that your pride talking?”

 

“That's my anger talking.” Astrid sighed. “They also have a bigger issue.”

 

“Lucifer? I’d call that a big issue too.” Cyrus pursed his lips. “That's crazy tho.” Cyrus shifted in seat to face Astrid. “Are you feeling better? I'm not sensing anything wrong, but I'm never sure.”

 

“I'm fine, although my head hurts a bit. You? Don't think I didn't see you trying to help me.” Astrid frowned. Cyrus shouldn't even bother himself with helping her out. She was a lost cause anyway.

 

“I'm okay. Why don't you go and take a nap, we can go out for dinner or order room service later.” Cyrus smiled gently and stood up. He lead her towards her room and closed the door before she could complain.

 

He didn't step away from the door afterwards. Her magic didn't hurt him, it had only enhanced his own magical abilities. Being a Familiar wasn't only about being a human doggy bag that could shape shift, Cyrus had enhanced senses when Astrid gave him too much magic. In normal circumstances Familiars have enough magic stored in them 24/7 to be able to shape shift whenever they want and have a ridiculously good sense of hearing, smell, and eyesight. Cyrus didn't enjoy those benefits most of the time, but he had them right now.

 

He was able to hear Astrid shuffle around her room. She set up an alarm on her phone and then curled up under the covers. Cyrus could hear her breathing getting slower until he was certain she was asleep. Cyrus took a deep breath and headed over to the table. He grabbed his phone and texted someone he'd never thought he'd text.

 

Cyrus:

Hunter

 

Sam:

I'm sorry you must have the wrong number

 

Cyrus:

This is Cyrus

 

Sam:

What do you want?

 

Cyrus:

A massage wouldn't be so bad

 

Sam:

Cyrus…

 

Cyrus:

Look it's about my sister and it's kinda about your brother too since they have this fucked up bond going on

 

Sam:

Cyrus I'm not sure what you want me to do

 

Cyrus:

Look

 

Cyrus:

I'm sure ur stupid brother is gonna be pissed for a while so don't tell him that we need your help. I'm.... well Astrid is gonna die if I don't do shit and there's no one else I can ask. I tried contacting some people in Brazil and Colombia, but no one knows anything about broken Familiars bonded to strong witches. I'm… dude I kinda need to go all Hermione on your library, but my sis is pissed at y'all and pride is apparently higher than ya know… being a live and shit

 

Sam:

I'll do some research for you.

 

Cyrus:

I was gonna ask if you could let me sneak in but okay dude

 

Sam:

This is about my brother too. There's no way I'm not looking at all our options

 

Cyrus:

I thought your priority was cutting the bond before Astrid died

 

Sam stared at the last text Cyrus sent him. It was the truth, but he also didn't need more enemies when he was fighting Lucifer on one end and fighting the British Men of Letters on the other. He looked at Dean who was fuming on his seat. Sam watched how Dean gripped the steering wheel tight enough to turn his knuckles white. Sam looked down at his phone and decided lies were meant to save time.

 

Sam:

I would never let your sister die just like that.

 

Sam gritted his teeth and grimaced at his own lie.

 

Sam:

Look man, I gotta go b4 Dean asks me what I'm doing.

 

Cyrus:

K, I still want to take a look at that library tho.

 

Sam:

Drop by tomorrow night. Dean's asleep around 1am

 

Cyrus:

Cool

Seeya

What's your go 2 Starbucks drink?

 

Sam grunted and pocketed his phone. He gave one look at Dean half expecting to be asked something. Dean didn't even acknowledge his presence and that was great.

 

This was how Sam found himself letting a shapeshifter wanna be into the bunker at 2am. Cyrus had grinned and brought Sam some Starbucks. Sam rolled his eyes and led Cyrus to the library. They had a silent agreement to be silent as they dug through the library. Sam and Cyrus had surprisingly similar methods of doing research. They started piling up books that had anything to do on either witches, Familiars, or bonds. They ended up with a huge pile of books that they quickly separated into five different categories: “witches only”, “Familiars only”, “bonds only”, “a bit of more than one”, and “read first”. They divided the last pile in two and started reading. Sam of course, picked all the books on bonds. He needed to know how to break it and keep Dean alive.

 

Cyrus left a couple hours later with no leads and no new information. He did found out that bird Familiars had extra glands on their backs that could be used for sex. He took a picture of the paragraph and showed it so Sam who gave him a harsh bitch face. Cyrus felt like Sam had slapped him in the face and didn't show Sam anything else until he decided to leave.

 

Sam went to bed around 3am and woke up to do research on Lucifer and avoid Dean's misguided anger. He wondered if Astrid felt the anger. If so he wondered if she would be bothered enough to slap some sense into him. He then remembered what the cause for Dean's anger was and wondered what side was he on. He knew it was cold, but he cared more about his brother’s life than the rude witch. He didn't trust the Rottmanns at all. Last night, with Cyrus in the bunker, Sam had been on edge watching his every move in case the Familiar dropped a hex bag or anything similar.

 

“Sam? You look like crap,” Dean said as he entered the kitchen.

 

Sam looked up from his laptop and glared at Dean. “I was up all night doing research.” Not a lie, but not the truth either. Cyrus and him had cleaned up the mess they made and placed all the books on the same shelf for easy access.

 

“On?” Dean raised an eyebrow as he started the coffee machine.

 

“Lucifer.”

 

“Any look?” Dean relaxed slightly and started fetching his cereal.

 

“Nothing. Maybe he's still looking for a temporary vessel.” Sam closed his laptop and groaned. “What about Cas?”

 

“Nada,” Dean grunted. He was still slightly angry with the angel and with Sam too for that mattee. Dean wanted to mention Astrid, but something told him to shut up and eat his cereal quickly.

 

Sam took out his phone and decided that it was a good idea to search google news for anything weird. He typed in “burnt eyes” and almost choked when he found an article published that same morning.

 

“Sam?” Dean frowned.

 

“Uhh Lucifer is dropping bodies.”

 

“Great.”

 

Lucifer was aiming for white collar men with huge influence on people. This made it more difficult to track because Lucifer wasn't too picky on the vessel. Sam texted Cyrus and basically told him that he was too busy with Lucifer to help with his research. Cyrus simply answered with a monkey emoji that Sam didn't understand.

 

Cas on the other hand was able to stay awake 24/7 and divide his time on research and hunting. Sam was sitting in front of him and stalking celebrities in case one of them was suddenly possessed by Lucifer. Cas was bent over a book about familiar genetics when the energy around him shifted. He straightened out his posture and glared.

  
“Did the Bunker’s warning fail?” he asked angrily.  
  
“I just powered it down.” Dean stepped into the library and nodded at Sam and then at Cas who was glaring at him. Dean ignored the glare and answered the silent question. “Crowley called, said he had some big news about Lucifer, whatever the hell that means.”  
  
Sam raised an eyebrow. “So now Crowley can just… what? Drop in whenever he feels like it?” Sam scoffed. “I prefer keeping Crowley at a distance. A long distance.”  
  
“Not very charitable, Moose.” Crowley appeared behind Dean and sighed dramatically. “Particularly since, once again, I'm saving both your asses.” Crowley glared at the brothers. “So, as you know, I'm temporarily persona non grata in my own palace.”  
  
“Palace?” Sam and Dean scoffed.  
  
Crowley ignored them. “However, there are those I still control. Operatives,” Crowley added.  
  
“Crowley, can we just get the damn news without the drama?” Dean snapped.  
  
“Can I get you without the flannel? No. Still, I endure.” Crowley raised his eyebrows and Dean's frown deepened. “What? Did a little digging, acting on a tip. And I think I know the identity of Lucifer's newest vessel.” He waited for a reaction or a guess. “Oh, for God's sake.”  
  
“Huh?” Dean frowned.  
  
“Gentlemen... I give you one Jefferson Rooney, President of these United States.”

 

“Fuck this shit!” Dean sat down and slammed his hand on the table. “Just what we needed.” He turned to Crowley before he could ask anything. “Look, do us a favor and go grab Rowena.”

 

“Excuse me?” Crowley scoffed.

 

“We need a witch that knows how to trap Lucifer back in his cage. Rowena is the only one, deal with it.” Dean waved a hand in dismissal trying not to think about another witch. “We are gonna try to find away to get him alone or whatever.” When Dean turned around Crowley wasn't there anymore.

 

* * *

 

Later thay day, Cas was still reading books on Familiars. Sam had seen him picking up the books from the shelf he'd separated for Cyrus. Cas, bless his grace, didn't find it strange that all the books on the topic were together in such a way. So Cas did research and Sam tried to hack into the president's personal files. Meanwhile, Dean was multitasking on his laptop and reading two books until he snapped.   
  
“Agh! I hate doing pointless research!” Dean growled at his laptop. “Even if Crowley does bring in Rowena, the problem remains,” he said. “Lucifer can't be returned to the cage inside his vessel. His essence has to be extracted.”  
  
Sam nodded. “Yeah. And Lucifer has found the perfect safe house.” Sam types something into his laptop. “I mean, how do we even start getting close to the President?”  
  
“Well, it helps that he's not in D.C.” Dean shrugged looking at some pictures of him giving speeches.   
  
Sam studies the pictures on his laptop. “Well, he's, uh, actually on a fundraising swing through the Midwest. Yeah, right now, it looks like his whole party -- aides, Secret Service, the whole circus -- is staying at an estate owned by Ron Forester, the, uh, hedge fund zillionaire.” Sam grimaced at the word used in the article he was reading. “It's right outside Indianapolis. But it is completely surrounded by walls, security, Secret Service, military.”  
  
Dean groaned. “Plan B?”  
  
“He's got a hell of a speaking schedule. He's averaging three events a day, and he's got a gala dinner on Friday night.”  
  
Dean nodded. “Well, at least he'll be outside of the mansion.”   
  
Sam scoffed again. “Yeah, guarded like the Hope Diamond.”  
  
Dean grimaced. “Plan C?” Dean asked and Sam shrugged. Dean groaned again and went back to his laptop.  
  
Cas ignored them and continued what he was doing until something began bothering him. Indistinct chattering grew louder and louder until his head ached. Angel radio was going wild with shouts and screams. Cas growled and held his head between his hands as he tried to make out what the voices tried to say.  
  
Dean jumped to help him. “Cas? Cas! Hey!”  
  
Cas stifled to answer. “Something's happened. Something... angel radio... there are so many voices.” He grimaced and let Dean manhandle him to a more comfortable position on the table.  
  
“What are they saying?” Dean asked, gripping Cas’ arm for support.  
  
“There's been a massive surge in celestial energy. A nephilim is come into being. It's the offspring of an angel and a human,” he explained, forgetting that both Sam and Dean new that already.   
  
“And that's big news?” Dean frowned.  
  
“Yes, but the power to produce this is immense. It's much, much greater than a typical angel.” Then it hit him. “Lucifer.”  
  
Dean  blinked. “W-- Lucifer?” Dean felt dread wash over him. He chuckled nervously. “I didn't know he was dating!” he joked and helped Cas stand up and walk away towards his room with Sam's help.

 

Sam left Dean to help Cas and went back to the library. He grabbed his phone and looked through his contacts list until he found Mick’s number. He knew they needed help, there was too much going on and he was being offered free help. Sam hit the call button, but freaked out and hung up. Instead, he called Cyrus.

 

“Yes? I'm in a meeting right now. This better be good.” Sam noticed that Cyrus was speaking with a thicker accent. Cyrus also sounded angry and stressed.

 

“We have a lead on Lucifer.”

 

“Yeah, and? Look Sam.” Cyrus cleared his throat and began talking faster and more hushed. “I know Lucifer is a threat to humanity or whatever, but please don't call me just to give me an update on your hunter bullshit. Do you actually need us or not?”

 

Sam didn't answer right away. “Uhh…”

 

“I'm taking that as a no. Text me the next time you want to waste my time.” Cyrus hung up on Sam and went back to the meeting room that vibrated with the magic that was currently escaping from Astrid’s body. Cyrus quickly pinpointed the cause for her sudden anger and jumped to the rescue.

 

Sam stared at his phone for a minute. He had no idea why he had tried to contact Cyrus like that. He shook off the idea and walked towards his room. He found Dean in the hallway walking towards his own room from Castiel’s. Dean stopped Sam with a hand on his chest.

 

“Pack your things, we are going to Indianapolis.” Dean slapped Sam on the shoulder and continued walking.   


Sam stopped him by pulling his arm. “Without a plan?” Sam asked, forgetting who he was talking to for a second.

 

“Yeah.” Dean shrugged. “We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Dean patted him on the arm and went to his own room to pack his own things.

* * *

 

  
Later in the day, Dean called Crowley for extra information. He was currently sharing an awkward car ride with Cas and Sam who weren't speaking to him out of fear of making him any more angry. Sam bit his lip and wondered of it would be a good time to text Cyrus for help. The witch may know a thing or two about extracting things from vessels.  
  
“Crowley? Uh, find out from your government mole if there's a girlfriend or a mistress or a favorite hooker. Someone we don't know about.” He paused to let Crowley answer. “Got it.” He hung up. “All right. Crowley and Rowena will meet us in Indianapolis.”   
  
“Do we have a plan?” Sam asked.   
  
“Impeach LOTUS and find Rosemary's Baby,” Dean joked.

 

Sam was really trying not to freak out in the car next to Dean. He was beginning to regret not texting Cyrus or Mick Davies earlier. He was about to pull out his phone and text Mick when he heard the sirens. He and Dean looked at the black SUV approaching them from behind with their sirens wailing.

 

“Aw, crap!” Dean growled and shared a look with Sam. He slowly pulled over and turned off the engine. The SUV parked in front of them and three men in suits walked out towards them. Dean looked back at Cas who still looked a bit tired from the last angelic incident. “All right. Stay here. We got this,” Dean told Cas. He stepped out the car with fake calmness and cockyness

  
Sam got out the car as well. He nodded at the three men wearing suits and hiding guns “Gentlemen, is there a problem?”   
  
Dean pulled off an FBI badge. “We are federal agents, guys. We need to keep going.”   
  
“And I need six grand by Saturday, but that ain't happening either.” The man who got out of the car first scoffed and waited for the other men to stand behind him like body guards. He was standing a couple feet from Dean. His pose screamed macho and arrogance, like he thought he could beat Dean in a fight.   
  
Sam chuckled. “Do you guys know who you're talking to?” he began with half smile.   
  
The man chuckled as well. “Winchesters.” His smile widened when Sam and Dean shared worried looks. “Did you make those toy badges in craft class on the psych ward?” He pointed at the badge that Dean pocketed. “Nice car, by the way. Really stands out.” The man waited for Dean to look at his car to get his gun out of his holster.

 

Dean wasn't stupid. The sound alerted him of the movement. He punched the man in the face and proceeded to wrestle him on the floor for his gun. Dean kicked the gun away and got the man in a choke hold.  
  
Sam saw the bigger guy getting closer to him. He faked nervousness. “Wait a second now!” he said and slammed the guy against the Impala in a quick movement. The third guy jumped into action just to get punched in the face by Sam and away from the fight.   
  
The third man had time to grab his own gun and point it straight at Dean's face.”Let him go. Now!” he yelled.   
  
Sam and Dean let go of the men and stepped back. Cas rolled his eyes inside the Impala and stepped out.   
  
The first man focused on Cas. “Stop! Don't move!” He pointed his gun at Cas.   
  
Dean stopped Cas with a hand. “Cas, don't.”   
  
Cas took a deep breath and obeyed. Suddenly, Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" song began playing in the background as a slick black Bentley parked itself away from the three men in suits holding Sam, Dean, and Cas at gunpoint. A british Men of Letters  stepped out of the car with a grenade launcher and didn't hesitate to shoot at the SUV. The three men dropped their guns and Sam and Dean ran to hide behind the Impala. Cas just stayed where he was, unfazed.   
  
“You. Angel. Wipe their memories.” Mr. Ketch ordered Cas who tilted his head and didn't move at all. Ketch looked at the car and at the men in the floor. “Uhh! U.S. government plates. Elite dogcatcher level. Someone special wants you.” He winked at Sam and Dean. “Whose hydrant have you lads been tinkling on?”   
  
“I'm sorry. Who the hell are you?” Dean asked, glaring at the SUV still in flames.   
  
“Oh. Where are my manners? Arthur Ketch. British Men of Letters.” He smiled again. “How about we find a more secluded space so that we can't have a proper chat?”   
  
The three of them shared looks and nodded at Ketch. They followed Ketch’s car to a forest road where he got out and started to speak before they had a chance to say anything.   
  
Eñe

 

Back in Kansas. Astrid and Cyrus returned to their hotel room. Cyrus was looking pissed, he was usually the more clear headed out of the two of them so Astrid was worried. She knew her magic had been acting oddly ever since the hunters visited them a while ago.

 

“Hey, bro. Who called you during the meeting?” Astrid asked casually.

 

“Sam.” Cyrus shrugged.

 

“Sam?” Astrid raised an eyebrow. “You tapping that?”

 

“Ha! There's no space for me with that stick up his ass.” Cyrus sat down on the couch. “I have no idea what he wanted. He told me they had a lead on Lucifer and I asked him if he needed us or what?”

 

“And then what?”

 

“Then I told him to text him if he actually needed us. Hung up on him and the moose never texted me back.” Cyrus shrugged. “Man, I'll be glad when this hunter shit is over.”

 

“Yeah,” Astrid hesitated. “Me too.”

 

Eñe

  
“So it's all very simple, really. Mick Davies asked you to join our effort, which we're taking international. My instructions are to strongly encourage a yes.” Ketch smiled.   
  
“So, what? You've just been following us?” Dean glared.  
  
“Not at all. We're good dogs. We only come when called.” He pointed a finger at Sam. “And he called.”   
  
“You what?” Dean shouted.  
  
Sam panicked. “I-I didn't, uh... I hung up.”  
  
“Yes, you did, which made Mr. Davies think that you were in trouble, which you were. So he rings me. Bing, bang, boom. Meet Bob. He's your uncle. Oh, and, um, you're welcome.”  
  
“And why should we believe anything that you have to say?” Dean frowned.  
  
Mr. Ketch chuckled and turned to Cas. “You, Halo. Do you sense I'm lying?”  
  
“My name is Castiel.” Cas stopped to study the man. “And... no. But the truth can be situational.”   
  
Ketch laughed. “Oh. Oh, I do enjoy an angel.” Cas ignored the wording, but Dean gave him a look that he didn't understand. “But I understand your hesitation. You haven't exactly seen us at our best. Lady Bevell is a bit... excitable.”  
  
“She tried to kill us!” Sam snapped.  
  
“Like I said, excitable.”  
  
Dean scoffed. “And you're better?”  
  
“I don't care about you one way or the other. I'm not an ideologue.” Ketch shrugged.    
  
Dean hummed. “And all you wanna do is help these American Hunters to clear this country of monsters?”  
  
“We understand things are different here. We're eager to collaborate. The British Men of Letters are centuries old, lads. We can offer expertise, weaponry, skills. Like we saw out on the road? I'm an artist, Mr. Winchester. I paint in many colors.” Ketch lead the three of them to the back of his truck.  
  
“Was that a grenade launcher?” Dean asked before he could stop himself. He gave Sam a look and bit his lip. He just couldn't wait to use one himself.   
  
Ketch smiles. “Quite. Ah. Our engineers have spent years blending sorcery and technology. For instance, we don't always decapitate vampires. Inefficient, really, especially for large nests. We irradiate them, reorder their DNA. Their own blood becomes lethal to them. The toys are the fun part, hmm?” He shows them a couple of weird looking guns and a golden egg shaped device. “Hyperbolic Pulse Generator. Exorcisms are unreliable. This device emits a force which drives the possessing demon from the vessel.”   
  
Sam hesitated. “What about a, uh, possessing angel?”  
  
Ketch stowed the egg and frowned. “And what might you boys be working on?” He gave Cas a fleeting look and then refocused on the brothers.  
  
“Well, you want us to trust you, you're gonna have to trust us first.” Dean answered.   
  
Ketch looked interested. “And that means?”   
  
“We can't tell you much, but we think we are gonna need to make some scrambled eggs pretty soon with that thing.” Dean pointed at the egg.   
  
“Sure.” Ketch shrugged. “Have at it.” Ketch threw the egg at them. Sam caught it.   


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why the spacing between chapters is so weird. The html is okay so I'm sorry guys :(


	14. Chapter 14

Astrid and Cyrus didn't hear anything from the Winchesters for two days. It was noon when Astrid stopped cold in the middle of a busy street. She was walking with Cyrus towards their rental car when she felt Dean freaking out. She stopped to pull down her mental walls to allow Dean in and try to claw her way through the bond to reach him. 

 

Cyrus saw her stopping and looking at empty space. He cursed and lead her towards their car. She responded without acknowledging him, moving her legs and staring off into empty space. Cyrus somehow coaxed her into the car. He strapped her in and closed the door gently. He ran to the driver's seat and fumbled with the keys. He needed to get her somewhere safe in case something bad happened like a stroke or an influx of magic.

 

Dean was far from her which meant Astrid had to do triple the normal effort to reach his mind. She cursed when she felt brand new walls stopping her from just getting into his head. She wasn't surprised when she felt the walls, the angel must've taught him about mental bonds while she wasn't there. Astrid prodded the walls carefully until she felt a small crack that would allow her some minimum insight. It would be enough for her to squish in and make the crack bigger. She closed her eyes and focused on doing so until she had a visual on Dean.

 

Dean was being manhandled, his ankles and wrists held by chains. Astrid saw what he was seeing and feeling what he felt. Dean was trying to look angry yet calm, but in reality Astrid could feel his anxiety levels spike. Dean was worried about Sam who was also being manhandled towards the back of a jeep made for keeping prisoners in. Sam was looking like a child who was waiting for his big brother to fix everything. It was incredible how much Dean was feeling. He was stressed, worried, anxious, afraid, confused, angry, dejected, resigned, and so many other feelings that made him unaware of Astrid.

 

When Sam and Dean were finally in the car with the doors closed, Astrid spoke to Dean. “Dean, what's going on? Are you okay? Where are you?”

 

Dean grimaced when he suddenly felt Astrid breaking his mental walls. How he had not felt that before was a mystery. He groaned and leaned forward until his forehead hit Sam's knees. Sam jumped at the contact, but didn't make a sound.

 

“Astrid?” Dean asked out loud and then tried to speak with her through thoughts alone. He closed his eyes and focused on thinking as loudly as he could. “Can you hear me?”

 

“Loud and clear.” Astrid bit back a pet name. She tended to use pet names with her friends a lot, specially when they needed reassurance. Astrid sensed that Dean noticed her faltering, but neither mentioned it. “What's going on? Please open your eyes so I can see where you are.”

 

“It's too dark and there's only Sam in here with me.” Dean opened his eyes for a second, but he couldn't concentrate properly. “I'm sorry. I can't keep them open,” he said out loud. 

 

“It's okay, b-” Astrid cut herself off and cleared her throat loudly. Cyrus gave her an odd look. 

 

Dean focused on speaking to her with his mind alone. “Lucifer possessed the president. Sam and I hunted him down and saved the president. Lucifer is trapped and Cas has someone we need to keep an eye on. I- I need you to join him. I don't know what's going on and this vulcan mind meld is giving me a headache. I'm so sorry. I- please just give Cas a call and find him. He should be somewhere near Indianapolis with a brunette girl.”

 

“Okay, Dean. Just relax, try to call me or something. I'll just hijack one of your dreams if you can't get a hold of me.”

 

“Fine.” Dean opened his eyes. The link broke and he groaned at the whiplash. Sam quickly leaned. Forward and tried to touch him. The chains around his legs and wrists didn't allow him to do so. “We are gonna be okay, Sammy.” Dean saw Sam nodding. He tried not to think to hard about the fact that Sam didn't complain about the nickname. 

 

Cyrus had parked their SUV in a dark underground parking that Astrid recognized as the hotel's. She gasped and excited the car quickly. She didn't wait for Cyrus to reach her. She was tapping the elevator buttons like a madman. Cyrus caught up with her just in time to push his body into the elevator. 

 

“Astrid?”

 

“We gotta pack our things and haul ass to Indianapolis.”

 

“What the fuck? Why?” Cyrus remembered Sam's text. “What's going on? Are the hunters okay?”

 

“I'm not sure what's going on, but it looks like they are being kidnapped or arrested.” Astrid shook her head. “I'm going for arrested. Castiel is with some girl? I'm guessing she's a civ.”

 

Cyrus hummed as he processed the information. “Castiel isn't gonna be able to handle her alone. Girl's gonna try an’ flee or somethin’.” Cyrus shrugged. 

 

“You think?” Astrid grimaced. “This is fucked up.”

 

“Yeah, tell me ‘bout it.” The elevator doors opened and they headed towards their room. “I'm gonna drive. You try to pull off something to find the angel. We'll call our lawyer later and let him act as proxy.”

 

Astrid nodded and ran to grab her emergency bags. She and Cyrus exited their room in record time with two medium sized adidas gym bags and two backpacks. They ran to the elevator and quickly dropped their things in the back seat of the SUV. Astrid opened Cyrus’ backpack and grabbed things she would need for a location spell. She was about to start mixing items when she had the genius idea to pray.

 

“Uhh…” Astrid mumbled out loud, gaining a weird look from Cyrus. “Hi. I'm Astrid. I pray to the angel Castiel to actually listen to me and text me to the number I'm about to say.” Astrid said her number out loud twice just to be sure. “I just want to help you with Dean and the girl.”

 

“Do you think that will work?” Cyrus asked right before her phone began ringing loudly. “I'll be damned.”

 

Astrid kinda jumped towards her phone that was in her backpack. “Castiel?”

 

“Astrid!” Cas let out a pleased sigh that made Astrid blush. “How did you-?”

 

“Later, just tell me where you are. Cyrus and I are heading out towards you guys.” 

 

“How did you know?” Cas asked with a more serious tone. “I placed some wards around Dean's mind when he asked me to do so.”

 

That made Astrid stop and reevaluate Deans pain during their conversation. “He was too distracted to keep them up, Castiel. The wards are giving him headaches.” Astrid bit her lip out of guilt and anxiety. “I thought I was the one hurting me, but it was the wards trying to push me out. I didn't know. God, I'm so sorry. I thought they were mental wards and I pushed in anyway because I know how to break mental walls without any pain. Oh God.”

 

“Don't worry about that now. Dean knew the consequences to having external wards added by me.”

 

Astrid froze. “He didn't want me anywhere near his head,” she muttered. 

 

“Astrid, focus.” Cyrus patted her on the shoulder. “I'm gonna call our lawyer now.”

 

“How much do you know about our situation?” Cas asked. 

 

“Dean gave me the basics.”

 

“Good, I'll drive to-

 

Astrid interrupted him “Cas, it's a 10 hour drive. You'll need to stop because you've got a human being with you.”

 

“You don't think I don't know that?” Cas glared at the open road. Kelly raised an eyebrow besides him.

 

“Touchy.” Astrid rolled her eyes. “We'll meet you halfway in Columbia, 5 hour drive more or less. Don't let the girl out of your sight. Not even bathroom breaks. Tell her to pee in a cup if she wants to, that'll kill the urge.”

 

Cas frowned. “I… okay?” He eyed Kelly who was looking nervous. 

 

“Not even food, Cas! Use drive-thrus.”

 

“Why are you so adamant? What did Dean say?”

 

“It's not what he said.” Astrid hesitated. “It's how he said it. It's not that he doesn't trust you, he doesn't trust her at all and it bothers him that he doesn't have an eye on her. I have no idea what she did, but I'm gonna keep an eye on her for Dean.”

  
  



	15. Chapter 15

Astrid and Cyrus didn't hear anything from the Winchesters for two days. It was noon when Astrid stopped cold in the middle of a busy street. She was walking with Cyrus towards their rental car when she felt Dean freaking out. She stopped to pull down her mental walls to allow Dean in and simultaneously try to claw her way through the bond to reach him. 

 

Cyrus saw her stopping and staring at the sidewalk like it was the most confusing thing on the planet. He cursed and pushed her towards their car. She responded without acknowledging him, moving her legs and staring off into empty space. Cyrus somehow coaxed her into the car. He strapped her in and closed the door gently. He ran to the driver's seat and fumbled with the keys. He needed to get her somewhere safe in case something bad happened like a stroke or an influx of magic.

 

Dean was far from her which meant Astrid had to do triple the normal effort to reach his mind. She cursed when she felt brand new walls stopping her from getting into his head. She wasn't surprised at all, the angel must've taught him about mental defenses while she wasn't there. Astrid prodded the walls carefully until she felt a small crack caused by Dean's emotional state. It was enough for her to squish in and make the crack larher. She closed her eyes and focused on doing so until she had a visual on Dean.

 

Dean was being manhandled, his ankles and wrists held by chains. Astrid saw what he was seeing and feeling what he felt. Dean was trying to look angry yet calm, but in reality Astrid could feel his anxiety levels spike. Dean was worried about Sam who was also being manhandled towards the back of a jeep made for keeping prisoners in. Sam was looking like a child who was waiting for his big brother to fix everything. It was incredible how much Dean was feeling. He was stressed, worried, anxious, afraid, confused, angry, dejected, resigned, and so many other feelings that made him unaware of Astrid hammering down on his walls.

 

When Sam and Dean were finally in the car with the doors closed, Astrid broke an entire fraction of a wall and said, “Dean, what's going on? Are you okay? Where are you?”

 

Dean grimaced when he felt the wall breaking down and Astrid yelling at him. How he had not felt that before was a mystery. He groaned and leaned forward until his forehead hit Sam's knees. Sam jumped at the contact, but didn't make a sound.

 

“Astrid?” Dean asked out loud and then tried to speak with her through thoughts alone. He closed his eyes and focused on thinking as loudly as he could. “Can you hear me?”

 

“Loud and clear, sw.” Astrid bit back a pet name. She tended to use pet names with her friends a lot, specially when they needed reassurance. Astrid sensed that Dean noticed her faltering, but neither mentioned it. “What's going on? Please open your eyes so I can see where you are.”

 

“It's too dark and there's only Sam in here with me.” Dean opened his eyes for a second, but he couldn't concentrate properly on the communications. When he lost focus he began to hear some sort of static. “I'm sorry. I can't keep them open,” he said out loud. 

 

“It's okay, b-” Astrid cut herself off and cleared her throat loudly. Cyrus gave her an odd look. 

 

Dean focused on speaking to her with his mind alone. “Lucifer possessed the president. Sam and I hunted him down and saved the president. Lucifer is trapped and Cas has someone we need to keep an eye on. I- I need you to join him. I don't know what's going on and this vulcan mind meld is giving me a headache. I'm so sorry. I- please just give Cas a call and find him. He should be somewhere near Indianapolis with a brunette girl.”

 

“Call Cas, got it.” Astrid sighed. “Just relax. I'll just hijack one of your dreams if you can't get a hold of me.”

 

“Fine.” Dean opened his eyes. The link broke and he groaned at the whiplash. Sam quickly leaned. Forward and tried to touch him. The chains around his legs and wrists didn't allow him to do so. “We are gonna be okay, Sammy.” Dean saw Sam nodding. He tried not to think to hard about the fact that Sam didn't complain about the nickname. 

 

Cyrus had parked their SUV in a dark underground parking that Astrid recognized as the hotel's. She gasped and excited the car quickly. She didn't wait for Cyrus to reach her. She was tapping the elevator buttons like a madman. Cyrus caught up with her just in time to push his body into the elevator. 

 

“Astrid?”

 

“We gotta pack our things and haul ass to Indianapolis.”

 

“What the fuck? Why?” Cyrus remembered Sam's text. “What's going on? Are the hunters okay?”

 

“I'm not sure what's going on, but it looks like they are being kidnapped or arrested.” Astrid shook her head. “I'm going for arrested. Castiel is with some girl? I'm guessing she's a civ.”

 

Cyrus hummed as he processed the information. “Castiel isn't gonna be able to handle her alone. Girl's gonna try an’ flee or somethin’.” Cyrus shrugged. 

 

“You think?” Astrid grimaced. “This is fucked up.”

 

“Yeah, tell me ‘bout it.” The elevator doors opened and they headed towards their room. “I'm gonna drive. You try to pull off something to find the angel. We'll call our lawyer later and let him act as proxy.”

 

Astrid nodded and ran to grab her emergency bags. She and Cyrus exited their room in record time with medium sized adidas gym bags and backpacks. They ran to the elevator and quickly dropped their things in the back seat of the SUV. Astrid opened Cyrus’ backpack and grabbed things she would need for a location spell. She was about to start mixing items when she had the genius idea to pray.

 

“Uhh…” Astrid mumbled out loud, gaining a weird look from Cyrus. “Hi. I'm Astrid. I pray to the angel Castiel to actually listen to me and text me to the number I'm about to say.” Astrid said her number out loud twice just to be sure. “I just want to help you with Dean and the girl.”

 

“Do you think that will work?” Cyrus asked right before her phone began ringing loudly. “I'll be damned.”

 

Astrid kinda jumped towards her phone that was in her backpack. “Castiel?”

 

“Astrid!” Cas let out a pleased sigh that made Astrid blush. “How did you-?”

 

“Later, just tell me where you are. Cyrus and I are heading out towards you guys.” 

 

“How did you know?” Cas asked with a more serious tone. “I placed some wards around Dean's mind when he asked me to do so.”

 

Astrid froze. “He didn't want me anywhere near his head,” she muttered. “What… what kind of wards did you use?”

 

“I think you already know the answer to that, Astrid.”

 

And she did. Astrid knew immediately why Dean hadn't noticed her breaking down his walls. Wards were different to self-made mental walls. “You used the type that won't hurt him unless someone manages to break them.” Astrid took a deep breath. “Castiel, I could've really hurt him if I didn't know better. I could have put him in a comma for all I know.” Astrid tried to breathe faster. “I just thought he was too distracted to feel me, Castiel. I didn't know. God, I'm so sorry. I thought they were mental walls and I kept pushing and pushing.”

 

Castiel tried not to imagine the pain Dean must be in after Astrid’s mental attack. “Don't worry about that now. Dean knew the consequences to having external wards added by me.”

 

“But I-”

 

“Astrid, focus.” Cyrus patted her on the shoulder. “I'm gonna call our lawyer now, you focus on the angel dude.”

 

“How much do you know about our situation?” Cas asked. 

 

“Dean gave me the basics.” Astrid swallowed down her emotions and focused on Castiel’s deep voice. 

 

“Good, I'll drive to-”

 

Astrid interrupted him “Castiel, it's a 10 hour drive. You'll need to stop because you've got a human being with you.”

 

“You don't think I don't know that?” Cas glared at the open road. Kelly raised an eyebrow besides him.

 

“Touchy.” Astrid rolled her eyes. “We'll meet you halfway in Columbia, 5 hour drive more or less. Don't let the girl out of your sight. Not even for bathroom breaks. Tell her to pee in a cup if she has to, that'll kill the urge.”

 

Cas frowned. “I… okay?” He eyed Kelly who was looking nervous. 

 

“Not even food, Cas!” she added. “Use drive-thrus.”

 

Cas frowned. “Why are you so adamant about this? What did Dean say?”

 

“It's not what he said.” Astrid hesitated. “It's how he said it. I have no idea what she did, but I'm gonna keep an eye on her for Dean.”

 

Castiel sighed and took a deep breath. “I assure you nothing will happen to her. She's safe with me.” Cas side eyed Kelly and added, “She's not going anywhere, Astrid.”

 

“Good, I'll text you an address and we'll meet up.” Astrid hung up on Cas and shared a tired look with Cyrus. “I'm gonna take a nap, wake me up when it's my turn to drive.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Cyrus never woke her up. Instead he grabbed her phone, unlocked it by using her own hand, and called Castiel to set up a meeting point. Cyrus placed the phone back under Astrid’s idle hand and continued driving to the Target he had sent Castiel to. He had no idea if the so called Kelly had any luggage with her and getting her some new clothes would definitely be recommended. Cyrus also wanted to get Astrid some sleeping pills and painkillers for the headache that she was going to wake up too.

 

He pulled off right next to the tan beat up truck with a frown. The angel saw him approaching and got out of the car. Cyrus was about to yell something at him when Castiel made a really obvious gesture of pocketing the keys. Cyrus sighed and exited the SUV. 

 

“Cyrus.” Castiel nodded. “Where's your sister.”

 

“Asleep,” Cyrus replied as he closed the door gently. “She's gonna wake up with a killer migraine because of the wards you put on the hunter.” Cyrus glared at Castiel, but the angel didn't react.

 

“I apologize for her discomfort,” Castiel said in a cold tone. “I still don't understand why Astrid wanted to meet with us.”

 

Cyrus shrugged. “Yeah, I have no idea why Dean wouldn't want a witch and her familiar who just happens to be a badass tracker on your side.” Cyrus pushed past Castiel and walked towards the truck. He saw Kelly starring at him and he knocked on her window. “Hello there. If you don't want get out it's okay, but I kinda wanna chat with you.” Cyrus saw Kelly glare at the door, but not at the window. “You are not a prisoner, you are allowed to get out.” 

 

Kelly glared, but opened the door and stepped out. 

 

“I'm Cyrus Rottman, my sister is-” Cyrus felt movement behind him and saw Castiel frowning at the car and walking over to wake Astrid up. “Is gonna be pissed when she wakes up.”

 

Kelly looked like she wanted to ask something. Cyrus shrugged and leaned against the truck where he could keep an eye on Kelly and Castiel. He winced when Castiel tried to open the locked door. Castiel glared at the door and repeatedly tapped on the window to wake up Astrid.

 

The annoying sound of Castiel basically slapping the window made Astrid tense up and open an eye. That wasn't enough to make Castiel stop. He continued to focus on making noise until Astrid sat up. Astrid glared at Castiel and made a half assed attempt at fixing her hair. Castiel knocked on her door once more and said something that Astrid didn't bother to pay attention to. 

  
  
  


She felt tired and grumpy and she needed more sleep. She saw Castiel frowning at her from outside the car and she glared back at him. Castiel didn't move and Astrid took the opportunity to open the door roughly and hit Castiel with it. She smiled when she saw Castiel cradle his nose and take several steps away from her door in confusion. Astrid knew she hadn't really hurt him, but the angel wasn't immune to being surprised.

 

Astrid tried to will her consciousness into a less asleep state and got out of the car.

 

“Good morning, princess.” Cyrus grinned. 

 

“Why the fuck didn't you wake me?” Astrid hid a yawn behind her hand. She turned around to see Castiel still stunned. “Why the fuck did you have to slam your hand on the window like that? Fucking flying asshole.” Astrid glared back at Cyrus. “I told you I wanted to drive.”

 

“Yeah, no.” Cyrus shrugged. “I prefer drying un-crashed cars.”

 

Astrid saw Kelly looking at her with wide eyes. “Civilian,” Astrid hissed. “Ugh… I don't want to deal with this.” Astrid yawned again, but she wasn't fast enough to cover her hand. “My head is killing me.”

 

“There's a Walgreens right here next to the Target.” Cyrus pointed at the building behind Astrid. “We can get you something later.”

 

“Drugs, yay.” Astrid rubbed her face tiredly and leaned against the SUV to look at Kelly. “Who are you?”

 

“My - my name is Kelly… I uhh worked for the president.” Kelly nervously looked at Castiel, as if she wanted to ask him if it was okay to keep talking. 

 

“What happened to you?” Astrid asked with an annoyed frown.

 

“You are going to think I'm crazy.”

 

Astrid rolled her eyes. “I'm a witch that can read minds by touching people’s skin and sensing feelings by just being close enough. Cyrus is my familiar and my brother and is supposed to be capable of turning into an animal, but there's something fucked up with him so he can only grow fur, teeth, and claws at will… which is pretty cool, but not the point. Talk or I'm going to touch you and learn everything about you including how you lost your virginity and what type of porn do you watch.”

 

Kelly shuddered. “The president was possessed by Lucifer and I'm pregnant with his child.” 

 

“Ok that's fucked up,” Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “We gotta get her some charms and set up some spells.”

 

“Agreed, I have some emergency stuff in my bag.” Astrid pointed at the car behind her. “I also want to set up a demon defense around her.”

 

“Wait, so that's it? You are not going to tell me to get an abortion or something?”

 

“Do you want to abort? Because I could help with that too if you let me drop by the Wallgreens and pull of an emergency miscarriage.” Astrid saw the alarmed looks from everyone. “What? I know shit. Just need some Cytotec and some Tramadol painkillers, but that's besides the point.”

 

“Why do you know this?” Cyrus asked with a pale face.

 

“Needed it for a friend in Mexico.” Astrid shrugged.

 

“Bullshit! Was I supposed to become an uncle?” Cyrus asked with a raised voice.

 

Astrid grimaced. “Eww no, I'm on Nexplanon.” 

 

“On what?” Kelly asked.

 

Astrid was slightly taken by surprise that Kelly didn't know what it was. Then again she was pregnant with the spawn of Lucifer. “It's a hormonal implant.”

 

“Eww so you have something stuck up your…” Cyrus gestured at his crotch.

 

“It's on my arm you idiot.” Astrid removed her jacket and wrapped up her sleeves. “Touch here.” Astrid grabbed Cyrus by the hand and made him touch her bicep. “Feel that? That's the implant.”

 

“That's fucking disgusting.” Cyrus gagged and pulled his hand away. He gagged again when Astrid made Kelly and Castiel touch her arm. “How long has that been there?” Cyrus asked when Castiel looked like he was going to spontaneously combust from how he was blushing. 

 

“Almost two years. I need to change it every three years.” Astrid rolled back her sleeve and dropped her jacket inside the SUV and finally remembered to close the door. “Kelly, you can do whatever you want because it's your body. If you want to abort I'll help you and if you don't want to I'll just hook you up with my expensive as fuck charms.” Astrid winked at her and Kelly blushed despite her nervousness.

 

Astrid had the fleeting thought that Kelly was adorable when she blushed and that she would love to make her blush more. Then she remembered that Lucifer had fucked Kelly and that was a nope on her book. Astrid wasn't going to flirt with this girl even if her life depended on it.

 

“I'll think about it,” Kelly replied. “I still need to come to terms with the fact that I'm pregnant.”

 

“Uhh the drug thing only works if you are less than nine weeks pregnant so be sure to think fast, honey.” Astrid placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled softly. “I'm sorry you have to go through this alone.”

 

“It's alright, I guess it will be easier with someone like you.” Kelly smiled and Astrid froze. Kelly chuckled at her stricken expression. “You look like someone who isn't going to be condescending and that's all I need right now.”

 

“Glad that my personality isn't offensive.” Astrid grinned, trying to hide her embarrassing blush with a bunch of sarcasm. “Did the guys actually allow you to pack or…”

 

“I don't have anything except for my phone and some cash.” Kelly gave Astrid her phone.

 

“Yeah, write down the important numbers on your contact list and then I'll leave your phone with a trucker that's headed for Alaska or something.” Astrid lead Kelly to the SUV and got her a small notepad and a pen. “Cyrus be a good brother and get me some painkillers.”

 

“Fuck that, I'll get rid of the phone while you hang out with Kelly and talk about disgusting stuff.”

 

“Menstruation is a natural-”

 

“OH MY GOD!” Cyrus screamed and began running away. 

 

Astrid smiled when she saw him running straight for the Wallgreens. Castiel looked like he wanted to run away too and at the same time he had his head tilted to the side like he wanted to keep listening. Kelly couldn’t help that she began giggling for the first time in what felt like ages. Astrid wanted to pat herself in the back for making the girl’s stress levels drop to an almost normal levels of stressed out human. 

 

Kelly had been glaring at everyone with mistrust when Astrid knocked Castiel back. Her aura was really dark and twisted with fear and stress. Now, Kelly simply felt exhausted and sad. It wasn't better, but it felt like a step forward for Astrid.

 

“Come on, let's get some stuff for you.” Astrid patted Kelly in the back. “I'm seriously praying for this Target to have a coffee shop inside.” Astrid started walking slowly and gave a Castiel a look to tell him to follow them. She could feel Kelly’s nervousness and knew not to push her to talk.

  
  


“You should try peppermint tea, works better than coffee when it comes to headaches,” Kelly said awkwardly. 

 

“I love peppermint tea,” Astrid lied, she preferred chai tea. “But my body probably needs some red bull mixed with an espresso right now.”

 

“College essential.” 

 

“Tesis essential.”

 

Kelly and Astrid started to laugh at their own jokes afterwards. The Target did have a coffee shop, but no peppermint tea so the girls ordered some lattes and made Castiel follow them around with a shopping cart while the girls threw random stuff in it without bothering to separate their stuff. Castiel didn't mind.

 

Together, they bought an excessive amount of cheap clothes, pajamas, random trinkets, snacks, and food. Astrid paid for everything and Castiel carried everything to the car. Cyrus was waiting for them with the backdoor of the SUV wide open. He was holding an energy drink and a bottle of peels for Astrid who grinned.

 

“I love you,” Astrid said as she chucked the drink and two pills.

 

“I hate you,” Cyrus rolled her eyes and looked at Castiel. “You should enforce some respect, dude, shame on you.” Cyrus shook his head and helped Cas get everything in the SUV. “I found a decent hotel a few blocks from here and already made a reservation.”

 

“Sam and Dean always use cheap motels because-”

 

“Sam and Dean are hunters who break the law on a daily basis to get what they want. Cyrus and I are normal people according to law enforcement reports.” Astrid patted Castiel in the back. “Chill the fuck out, Hot Wings.”

 

Kelly giggled at the nickname.

 

Cyrus smiled too. “Come on, let's get some fast food and some sleep. Kelly you can ride with us if you feel like it.”

 

To Castiel’s horror, Kelly nodded.

 

“Great, just FYI that I'll just pass out in the back seat so you'll have to deal with this asshole alone.” Astrid pointed a finger at Cyrus who glared at her.

 

“Fine, fine, I get it. I won't let Buffalo Wings wake you up ever again.”

 

Kelly snorted. “What's up with you guys and nicknames?”

 

“I ask myself that question every time I see them,” Castiel grumbled. 

 

“It means we like him better than the Winchesters.” Cyrus winked at Castiel. “It's funny because I thought my sister wanted to bend Ken doll over a table instead of Dodo bird over here.” 

 

Cyrus grinned. Astrid slapped him in the head. Castiel looked like was going to have a stroke. Cyrus continued to grin. Kelly gasped. Astrid insulted Cyrus in Spanish and he continued to grin all the way to the driver's seat. Kelly awkwardly got into the passenger's seat. Astrid laid down in the back seat, continued to insult Cyrus, and eventually fell asleep before Cyrus reached a fast food joint and ordered food for the three of them. 

 

Kelly slowly realized Astrid and Cyrus had managed to make her feel comfortable.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to me for actually writing.

Once at the hotel, Cyrus had gotten a room with two beds and a couch. Astrid had wanted to complain about who was getting the couch, but Cyrus glared at her so hard that Kelly reacted by holding on to Astrid’s wrist. The movement had caught Astrid by surprise because it hadn't fully turned into a protective gesture or a “I'm using you as a human shield” kind of movement. 

 

Luckily for both of them, Astrid’s wrist was covered by her shirt.

 

They brought the fast food to their room and allowed Kelly to eat before Cyrus and Astrid began chanting spells all over her. Kelly raised an eyebrow at the Latin words, but Castiel understood everything and nodded in approval at the choice of words. Kelly just sat there while Astrid’s necklace glowed gently. 

 

“So what's the chanting for?” Kelly asked. 

 

Astrid and Cyrus lied about the purpose of the spell, telling her about reorganizing her chakras before setting up a defense against monsters.

 

Astrid was setting up a magical tracker on Kelly that would not only tell Astrid about Kelly's location, but also about her wellbeing. It was clever how Astrid mixed spells with her own natural powers. Astrid used an intricate spellwork that etched itself on Kelly's palm as an invisible sigil that only Castiel and Astrid could see. Kelly wasn't even aware of it. 

Castiel understood why angels wanted to get rid of the Empath witches. With enough training, they could become powerful enough to fight angels. Astrid was barely strong enough to hurt him as she was, specially with the runt familiar by her side. Castiel also doubted she had been trained for fighting. 

 

Astrid showed Kelly a simple leather wristband that had been dipped in holy water for a couple days and added silver charms with sigils etched in different languages. Castiel politely asked to take a look at the charms and realized it was a simpler version of what he had seen Astrid and Cyrus wearing under their shirts and around their own wrists. 

 

Cyrus quickly explained what each charm did, but didn't explain how. The charms would protect and hide her from demons and from other monsters. There were a couple of charms that protected her from hex bags and certain kind of magic. Castiel was impressed by their thoughtfulness. 

 

Later, Kelly took a shower before Astrid and and Cyrus. Astrid had closed her eyes and focused on allowing her empath powers to read Kelly's mental wellbeing. It was also a test to see if Kelly tried to find an escape route in the bathroom. Nothing went wrong and everyone got ready for bed.

 

Astrid sat on her bed checking her phone and texting her parents and the people working on the merger. She waited until Cyrus and Kelly had stopped shifted on their beds to close her eyes and focus on her magic. 

 

She touched Cyrus’ mind first and knocked him out cold. She did the same for Kelly next. Castiel had faked going out of the room, but he was just standing in a corner. Astrid couldn't see him, but she could hear the soft hum of his mind. It still bothered her how unreadable the angel was. She expected Castiel to realize what she was doing, but the angel didn't react. 

 

She glared at the corner of the room. “Castiel, that's weird.” 

 

Castiel allowed himself to be visible and looked down at his shoes. “I apologize for my actions. Dean usually hates it when-”

 

“I'm not Dean and I'm perfectly aware that you don't sleep, but that doesn't mean you should stand there for the whole night.” Astrid patted the foot of the bed. “Sit down somewhere, there's a chair over there. Meditate or read a book.”

 

“A book?” Castiel looked at her in confusion. “Why would I start doing research?” 

 

“I… dude it was a… ok forget it.” Astrid pointed at Cyrus and Kelly with her thumbs. “I sent their brains straight to a deep REM cycle so we can talk comfortably.”

 

“You can do that?” Castiel frowned, Astrid may or may not be stronger than he expected.

 

“Yeah, I can't do many things with my uhh mind power thingy, but I can only pull that off with enough effort and sorta willing subjects.It was easy because they wanted to sleep.” Astrid pursed her lips and shrugged awkwardly. “I actually wanted to ask you about the wards on Dean's mind.”

 

Castiel shook his head. “Don't worry about that. They dissipate quickly and without a trace hours after being broken so that they don't cause any permanent damage. You should find no difficulties when trying to contact him again.”

 

“Thanks, I guess.” Astrid sat back against the headboard and crossed her legs. “I'm kinda insulted.”

 

Castiel tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “Why?” 

 

“It barely took me about a minute to take down a wall.” Astrid grinned. “Are you going soft on me?”

 

The answer to this was yes. Castiel had thought Astrid wouldn't be able to do much after she found the walls. He had underestimated her mental strength. How could she break his walls so easily when she had been so easily overwhelmed by his presence when they first met?

 

“Fine don't answer.” Astrid glared at Castiel in annoyance. “I'll try to contact Dean… unless he's awake. I don't want him to hurt himself.”

 

Astrid closed her eyes and focused on the thin bond that tied her to Dean. It felt like stretched out bubble gum and it was squishy and absolutely disgusting. She couldn't understand how she hadn't noticed that small fact earlier. It felt different to her bond with Cyrus. Her brother felt like a slim silk cord, fragile and soft. Dean's was sweet, clingy, and with a bunch of missing holes and bubbles. Eventually, she found Dean's mind and she felt Dean hiss in pain.

 

“Oh shit sorry,” Astrid said out loud and to Dean. She felt some of Dean's confusion before she backtracked through the sticky bond. It took her longer than expected to get all of her back into her own body. When she opened her eyes she saw Castiel and Cyrus looking at her with wide eyes. She was confused about seeing Cyrus, but she felt more confused than worried. “Personal space?” 

 

“Fuck your personal space!” Cyrus hissed, careful to not wake Kelly up. “What the hell just happened?”

 

Astrid frowned. “I tried to talk to Dean, but he's still a bit sore and awake.” Astrid licked her lips, an anxious gesture. “What’s wrong? Why did Castiel wake you up?”

 

Cyrus sighed sadly and pressed a hand to Astrid’s knee in reassurance. “Astrid, you've been pulling of a Yoda for more than two hours and Castiel couldn't find your brain in that thick skull of yours. I tried using our bond, but it was like you were unconscious or dead.”

 

“Our bond should be-” Astrid shut up when she focused really hard on Cyrus and was unable to feel him.

 

Astrid gasped and that's when she realized she couldn't sense anyone's feelings. She felt like she had some sort of cold that clogged her nose and now she had to breathe through her mouth like a snake tasting the air. In this metaphor, her Empath powers were her clogged nose and she couldn't breathe. Astrid found herself having to rely on her own eyesight and her ability to listen carefully to gauge Cyrus’ worry.

 

Astrid froze when the metaphor stopped being a metaphor and she couldn't breathe at all because she was having a panic attack due to the lack of understanding. She felt like she was suddenly colorblind or as if she had suddenly lost a limb and it was horrible because she also didn't feel like a normal human being. 

 

“Astrid?” Cyrus knelt down next to her on the bed and grabbed her by the shoulders.

 

Astrid closed her eyes. “I can't feel you.”

 

“What? Astrid, what do you mean?” Cyrus tightened his grip on her shoulders but Astrid didn't react. “Astrid!” Cyrus shouted, not worrying about Kelly asleep on the next bed. 

 

Castiel stepped up and placed a hand to Astrid’s forehead. Cyrus gasped when she closed her eyes and passed out on his arms. He quickly moved her to her side until she was laying down on her side. Cyrus touched her forehead and neck carefully, noticing the cold sweat and pale skin. He turned to Castiel with questioning eyes.

 

“I take it this had never happened to her,” Castiel said.

 

Cyrus nodded. “We both act like badasses on a daily basis, but… yeah first time.”

 

“I believe she pushed herself too much and her body's natural response was to lock up whatever magic she has left.” Castiel pressed a hand to Astrid’s chest and the other one cupped her cheek. 

 

“This is the part where the good familiar would give his witch the extra juice, isn't it?” Cyrus asked.

 

Castiel gave him a look and stepped back from Astrid. “Yes, but there's no use thinking about what could've been. She needs rest.” Castiel hesitated and said, “Even if it means a delay in saving Sam and Dean.”

 

“I'm sorry about that. Sam gave me a call earlier before you guys left.” Cyrus shrugged off the glare Castiel shot him. “He didn't say much, just freaked out on me and I kinda uhh snapped back at him. I should've noticed something was going. Sorry.”

 

Castiel stared at him, unmoving and expressionless. Feeling threatened, Cyrus stood up from his spot on Astrid’s bed. He didn't know how to fight an angel, but it wouldn't be the first time he fought something stronger than him. He knew a couple of spells that would probably stun Castiel and give him enough to pick up Astrid and run. Astrid was about 5’6” and weighed about 140 pounds due poor eating habits ever since she felt the bond between her and Dean. It was weird how she didn't feel hunger anymore because Dean ate enough for three people when felt like it. 

 

Cyrus was mentally preparing himself to use a stun spell, grab Astrid, and make a run for it when Castiel sighed and looked down at Astrid with sad eyes.

 

“Rest, she will need your strength when she wakes up.” 


	17. Chapter 17

Castiel ditched his old truck on the parking lot of the hotel and rode in the back of the black SUV with a well rested Kelly. Cyrus was driving despite the logic behind Castiel's reason so drive. Astrid was on the passenger seat wearing an extra coat and a scarf despite the climate.

 

Kelly wasn't stupid and she knew there was something wrong judging by the way Astrid held onto her brother with a death grip. The car was silent, but Kelly could literally taste the tension.

 

“Uhh… did something happen while I was asleep?” Kelly asked carefully.

 

Astrid turned around in her seat and began talking fast with a shaken voice. “Have you ever had an old phone and started opening a shit load of apps and then you start downloading even more apps and decide that watching a movie with your phone at the same time as having all those apps open is cool because you trust your phone, but then it overheats and you fail to see that because by this moment you've placed it on a pillow to enjoy your movie-”

 

Kelly grabbed Castiel’s hand in fear. “I don't think I follow.” 

 

“I don't either, but in this metaphor I'm the phone or my magic is my phone. I… I don't know anymore.” Astrid’s breathing quickened and she started panting and shaking her head in confusion. “I… I… fuck this is horrible. It's like I'm suddenly colorblind and it's making me nauseous as fuck.”

 

Cyrus grimaced and gave Castiel a look through the rearview mirror. Castiel nodded in understanding and shifted in his seat. He moved slowly until he was close enough to lay a hand on Astrid’s forehead. Astrid flinched away and stared at the angel with wide eyes full of fear. It seemed to take forever until she understood what Castiel wanted to do. Castiel reassured her with a soft look. She nodded and he pressed his fingers to her forehead. Astrid’s eyes closed and her muscles relaxed.

 

She was too relaxed.

 

Cyrus quickly moved his arm to catch her before her forehead hit the car's upholstery. Kelly and Castiel rushed to grab her shoulders and pull her into a more comfortable position. Cyrus retracted his arm and sighed.

 

“I t-think it's better if we move her to the b-back seat,” Kelly said in a quivering voice. 

 

Castiel nodded and snapped his fingers.

 

Kelly screamed. 

 

Cyrus felt the shift in the energy around him. He tried not to shit himself at the strength of an angel's grace. Compared to the angel, Astrid was nothing and Cyrus had always believed that Astrid was stronger than the average strong witch. 

 

Astrid was now laying down on the back seat with her head pillowed on Castiel’s lap. Kelly was sitting on the passenger seat holding her stomach like she was trying to keep down her breakfast. Cyrus tried not to get angry at Castiel holding Astrid’s head on his lap with a gentle hand on her forehead. Considering Cyrus’ temper, he failed at not glaring at Castiel through the rearview mirror. Castiel didn't notice because he was busy checking Astrid’s magic.

 

“You can teleport people?” Kelly asked in a loud voice. 

 

“Yes, when my grace was at full strength I could travel to anywhere on Earth.” Castiel massaged Astrid’s temples with the tips of his fingers. She didn't react. “Her magic is still too low.” Castiel frowned and met Cyrus’ hard stare on the rearview mirror. “Do you think you are capable of a transfer? She may be in need of it if she doesn't start producing enough.”

 

Cyrus shook his head and focused on the highway. “I've never been able to do a transfer. I can suck the energy out of her when she's unstable and suck the energy around me… but I have no idea how to give it back or use it for myself.”

 

“That's dangerous too.” Castiel glowered at Cyrus and then went back to Astrid. “My grace would only hurt her.”

 

“What do you mean?” Cyrus asked.

 

Castiel remained quiet. If neither of them knew about her family then he wasn't going to announce it just yet.

 

“Is it like blood?” Kelly asked, gaining twin confused eyes. “Like you can't give AB blood to an someone with O.”

 

“Not exactly, but close enough.” Castiel stopped touching Astrid.

 

They didn't discuss the topic any further. Castiel checked on Astrid periodically. Her magic reserve was starting to build up at a slow pace. Too slow. She was going to remain disabled for a couple days unless Castiel managed to use Cyrus to charge her up.  He just couldn't understand why Cyrus was incapable of using the ability he was born with. Castiel made a mental note to investigate on that. 

 

He needed Astrid to regain her powers to get Dean back.


	18. Chapter 18

Cyrus drove the 6 hours to the bunker. Only stopping to pick up something at a burger joint for the humans in the car. Kelly thanked him, but Astrid remained asleep.

“She needs to eat, wake her up.” Cyrus glared at Castiel.

Castiel shook his head. “She needs rest more than anything.”

“She'll be pissed if she waked up to cold fries.” Cyrus glared at Castiel. “Wake her up.”

Kelly munched on her own cheeseburger and watched as Cyrus and Castiel glared at each other. Cyrus even stopped looking at the road to stare directly at the rearview mirror. With his left hand he grabbed a bunch of fries from the bag on his lap and raised an eyebrow. 

“Eyes on the road,” Castiel said.

“Road’s empty.” Cyrus’ frown deepened and Castiel sighed.

“Fine.” He placed a hand on Astrid’s forehead. 

Astrid’s eyelids fluttered like she was fighting it. She groaned and squirmed away from Castiel’s hand, accidentally burying her face on his stomach. Castiel tensed up and that was when it hit Astrid that she was using him as a pillow. She sat up and blinked away her sleep and confusion.

“What?”

“Chipotle blue cheese, fries, and a coke.” Cyrus grabbed the bag from Kelly and handed it to Castiel who was the first to reach out.

“Bless you.” Astrid gave Cyrus a dopey smile and grabbed the brown paper bag with both hands from Castiel. She grabbed her cup from Kelly and settled it between her thighs. Astrid sighed with exhaustion and slowly began munching on the warm salty fries.

“I'm sorry I made Chicken Little wake you up.” Cyrus grinned when Astrid almost choked on her food with laughter. “I just know how much you hate cold food.”

“You are almost my favorite brother,” Astrid said with her mouth filled with food.

Cyrus scoffed. “I don't see Santi hanging out with us here in fucking Kansas.”

“Santi didn't sleep with my best friend either.”

“Wait, you two are siblings?” Kelly asked with a confused frown.

“Cyrus and I were adopted because our mom supposedly couldn't have children.” Astrid rolled her eyes. “That's why we look nothing alike.”

Cyrus nodded. “Santiago is the miracle baby.” 

“Oh okay.”

They didn't talk anymore because they were mostly focused on their food. Cyrus silently sent a prayer for Castiel to not say anything that would remind Astrid of her condition. Castiel heard the prayer and nodded at Cyrus. Kelly and Astrid were both unaware of the short interaction. 

Astrid ate quickly and tucked all the trash inside her paper bag. She sighed and promptly sat back on her seat with her head resting on the window. Cyrus gave Castiel a look and he knocked her out once more. Astrid’s muscles relaxed enough for her body to sway. Castiel reacted by pulling her back down to his lap. Cyrus frowned, but didn't comment. 

Kelly fell asleep too after a couple of hours. Cyrus was on the verge of following a long, but Castiel quickly forced him to change seats. Cyrus agreed with a yawn and they changed seats. 

Castiel drove all the way back to the bunker with a sleeping pregnant woman, a tired witch, and a familiar who couldn't shapeshift.Castiel woke up them all up at the entrance of the bunker.

“Where are we?” Kelly asked.

“Men of letters bunker, safest place on the country.” Castiel saw that Astrid wasn't waking up and raised an eyebrow.

Cyrus waved a hand. “Don't, I'll just carry her to one of the guest room.”

Kelly smiled gently. “You are a really good brother.”

“She's the reason why I made it past fifteen and still kicking thanks to her.” Cyrus shrugged. “She didn't have to help me, specially since it hurts her so much, but that's just Astrid.” 

Castiel hummed in appreciation and opened his door. “I’ll take Kelly to…” Castiel stopped. “I'm not even sure if there's an extra guest room. I'll check that out first.” He ducked out of the car awkwardly and left Kelly and Cyrus behind.

They watched as Castiel unlocked the bunker and left the door open for them. Cyrus made a sound and looked at Kelly who looked really uncomfortable.

“What?” he asked her.

“Nothing, I'm just…” she trailed off and scoffed. “This is all really weird and I guess I just need more time to assimilate everything.”

“It's okay.” Cyrus smiled softly. “I just want you to know that me and my sister will help you with whatever you want to do.” Cyrus saw her doubt him, so he elaborated, “Astrid and I are not with the Winchesters. We are not hunters, we are, um, she is a witch and I'm basically a shapeshifter A.K.A. something Sam and Dean would kill. If you want to keep the baby and these assholes don't, then we'll help you. If it's the other way around we know a couple things about unwanted babies too.” Cyrus shut up when Astrid shifted in her sleep. “I just don't want to leave you alone with that angel. I don't trust him.”

Kelly frowned. “Why? Are angels are good.” 

“Yeah and the witch hunts were based on religious beliefs.” Cyrus cleared his throat. “I, um, I don't think he means any harm, but I feel like he is hiding something every time I mention Astrid.”

“Like… feelings?” Kelly asked carefully. 

“No, something worse.”

Kelly raised an eyebrow. Cyrus didn't have time to explain why Castiel felt untrustworthy. He barely understood the feeling himself, but his gut had never failed him. Cyrus got out of the car, closed the door behind him, and opening the door on Astrid’s side. Kelly got out of the car as well, awkwardly standing close to Cyrus as he hauled Astrid’s limp body out of the car and into a fireman's carry.

Cyrus didn't even grunt as he carried Astrid all the way to the spare bedroom she used the other day. He didn't see Castiel anywhere so he allowed Kelly to follow him around. He dropped Astrid unceremoniously on the bed.

“Follow me.” 

Cyrus got out of the room just in time to run into Castiel who was carrying clean bedsheets. They both reacted badly and Castiel dropped the sheets. Kelly silently knelt down and picked up the sheets. Cyrus and Cas glared at each other, but they both helped Kelly. Castiel silently pointed at the room a few door away from Astrid’s. Cyrus knew that the room was within hearing distance from the room he had used and Sam’s. Not that Sam was going to use it.

They all shuffled into the room with spare pillows and sheets and Cyrus offered to help Kelly. Cas of course didn't know what he was doing, so he just stood there clutching a pillow in his hand. Kelly basically smiled and told them to fuck up with a “no thanks” and Cyrus and Castiel nodded.


	19. Chapter 19

“What do you remember?” Castiel asked

 

“I was tired, and then I was asleep.” Astrid frowned at Castiel. “Then… cheeseburgers and then I was here. I know that didn't happen, but-”

 

Cyrus slapped a hand down on the table. “That's exactly what happened.” Cyrus chuckled. “You just missed the part where you sleep walked until you reached the kitchen and fell asleep on the table.”

 

“I sleep walked?” Astrid frowned looking around the room. She saw Kelly looking at her with a worried expression. Castiel and Cyrus were just staring at her blankly. “Wow, um, I haven't done that in years.”

 

“Remember when you woke up on the living room with a leg over the back rest?” Cyrus grinned. “You were confused for days.”

 

Astrid shook her head. “I'm still half convinced Dad carried me downstairs.” 

 

“What for?” 

 

“Does Dad ever need a reason to do things?” Astrid asked. “Remember when he bought chickens and two of them were taken by hawks so he bought a BB gun to hunt the hawk, failed to do so, and then taught us how to shoot things and Santi killed the last surviving chicken?”

 

Castiel frowned at the story, but Kelly and Cyrus were laughing.

 

“I don't remember that! Did Santi really murder his chicken?”

 

Astrid shrugged. “I told Dad it was a hawk and Santi dumped the dead chicken at the neighbor's house.”

 

“That's crazy!” Kelly said.

 

“You seem to be in a good mood.” Castiel nodded to himself. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Like I was placed into an impromptu drug free comma.” Astrid smiled. “I'm hungry and my mana has restored itself up to the point where I can function properly although I don't think I'll be able to do much. I can't even feel you two anymore.” She shared a look with Cyrus. “I'm back to sensing loud thoughts, but not all of them. I haven't needed to go back to my, uhh, happy place to get away from Castiel’s overwhelming mind.”

 

Castiel nodded slowly. “So… Dean?” 

 

Astrid’s face fell. “I couldn't even if I tried.” Astrid sighed. “I need mana and Cyrus is incapable of giving me his.”

 

“Mana?” Kelly asked.

 

“It's magical energy,” Cyrus replied.

 

“Do you think your body would be able to process angel grace?” Castiel asked.

 

Astrid was about to say no, but Castiel was looking awfully desperate. Her heart hurt at the idea of seeing someone so stoick and cold looking like Castiel did. Castiel’s lips tightened into a sad frown and Astrid couldn't take it anymore. “I'm not sure, but we can try.”

 

“Astrid! What the hell?” Cyrus screamed. “Do you want yourself killed?”

 

Astrid flinched. 

 

Kelly raised her eyebrows. “I'm going to prepare some breakfast.” She nodded to herself and didn't wait for a reply.

 

Cyrus watched her go and grabbed Astrid by her shoulder. “You can't possibly be-”

 

“What's the worst thing that could happen?” Astrid shrugged.

 

Castiel frowned, deep in thought. “Worst case scenario, your body rejects my grace and it goes through-”

 

“Castiel, I don't want to know. I already agreed.” Astrid glared at both of them. “Unless it can kill me, I'm cool.” 

 

◇

 

Castiel, Cyrus, and Kelly were standing on the guest room Astrid used last night. Astrid was sitting down on the bed, clearing her mind from anything that could compromise Castiel. Castiel knelt down in front of her, the height difference making is easier for him to pull Astrid forward. They touched their foreheads together and waited.

 

Kelly fidgeted on her spot. 

 

Astrid felt the telltale coldness of Castiel’s grace as he gently shared it with her. Astrid’s body tried to give it back for a while like it was saying “oh no this is yours, not mine.” Castiel pulled back and went slower. Astrid visualized a hand trying to grasp Castiel’s grace. She convinced her body that it was a gift.

 

When her body stopped rejecting it and reluctantly began to take it in, Astrid reached out for Dean’s mind.

 

It was like driving through a fog at high speed with no idea where to turn. She lost all senses except for a feeling deep within her clutched at her chest like a hungry animal.

  
  


Suddenly, the fog dispersed and she was standing in front of a lake. The sun was setting and the wind was softly brushing her hair. Astrid breathed in the feeling of peace until her other senses began to recover. First, came smell, something stale and metallic, similar to the bunker but more sterile. Second, came touch, despite the sun it was freezing. Third, came sound.

 

“Holy fucking shit, Castiel! Shut the fuck up!” 

 

Astrid covered her ears, but the sound was still there. It was a high pitched scream followed by some deep bass. She knelt down on the ground and tried to push Castiel away, but her efforts were also pushing Dean's mind away so she stopped. A hand touched her shoulder and Astrid looked up to see Dean’s worried eyes. With the sun and the wind, Dean looked gorgeous with his wind blown hair and his eyes a rich green contrasting with the sun.

 

“Dean!” Astrid shouted.

 

Dean opened his mouth and his lips moved, but nothing came out. Astrid was momentarily shocked by this. She stared at his lips trying to read them, but she the movements were distorted and impossible to analyze. 

 

“Dean, I can't hear you.” Astrid pointed at herself then touched her ear and mouth with two fingers. Dean blinked at her and nodded, understanding the sign language. He tapped his ear and pointed at Astrid while nodding. “You can hear me?” Dean nodded. “Great, Castiel is pushing grace into me and it feels like he's screaming at me.” Astrid flinched and gritted her teeth. “Fuck, okay no this shit hurts. Dean, we'll find you, but apparently not know.”

 

Dean nodded and looked away with a glare.

 

His anger was the last thing she saw before passing out.

  
  


◇

 

“Castiel, stop!” Cyrus shoved Castiel away from his sister just in time for her body to go limp. Cyrus caught her on time and pushed her back so that she was laying down on the bed. “Shit, there's blood coming out from her ears.”

 

Castiel was panting and walking away from them. He didn't need to breathe, but his chest felt tight with emotion. He had felt Dean's soul and his grace had tried to cling to it and reassure him. Castiel had tried to speak directly to him, but it had hurt Astrid. He had stopped eventually, but her pain was still there. 

 

“I'm sorry, I thought it was working.”

 

Cyrus shook his head. “Get out, Castiel.”

 

“Cyrus, I apologize for-”

 

“I said get the fuck out!”

 

Kelly reacted first by grabbing Castiel's arm and pulling him out of the room. Castiel was in a daze as Kelly dragged him to the library and sat with him while Cyrus stressed over his sister’s well-being.

  
  


◇

 

They didn't try again. Astrid complained that she felt well enough to make Castiel try again, but the looks she got from Kelly and Cyrus were murderous at best. Castiel seemed like he wanted to do it despite what they thought, but Astrid was adamant that she needed her brother's support. They'd have to wait until Astrid could build up her mana reserve to attempt to contact Dean from afar.

 

This meant that Cyrus couldn't feed on her.

 

Cyrus tried to load his body with carbohydrates and sugar. He took vitamin supplements and protein shakes. He exercised by running through the forest in the back of the forest and lifting weights that he had shipped through Amazon. Kelly used that to her advantage and convinced Cyrus to take her shopping and on walks towards the dock near the bunker. He had to keep his body fit to use less mana.

 

Castiel stressed over Sam and Dean. He tried getting security cameras and other tricks he had learn with Sam and Dean, but nothing came up. He stared at his phone like it would give him answers, finger hovering over the number the british men of letters had given him. He was about to call them until he received a call from a different person. Castiel let it go to voicemail and played it.

 

“Hello Castiel, listen: I've tried calling and texting my boys and neither has answered I'm getting-”

 

Castiel hung up and returned Mary Winchester’s call.

 

“Hello Mary, we need to talk.”


	20. Chapter 20

“Familiar, what's wrong with you?”

 

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “Ok first of all I have name, Angel. And second of all, it's none of your damn business.” Cyrus went back to his laptop, which was difficult because the back of his ear was itching like crazy and he was sweating like a pig. He couldn't stop his legs from shaking and he had removed all the magic charms Astrid had infuzed with her magic in order to keep him safe. “Fuck.” Cyrus gave up and scratched the back of his ear like a dog.

 

“You haven't fed in days,” Castiel observed.

 

“No shit, Sherlock!” Cyrus growled. 

 

Castiel pressed a cold hand to his forehead. “When’s the last time you shifted?” 

 

“Um, I don't know never?” Cyrus slapped his hand away and began to scratch his belly. 

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because I'm fucking useless and I can't get more than some fur and claws.” 

 

“Have you tried turning it on and off?” Kelly mentioned from her spot on the door. She had just arrived there with a huge bag of chips. “I'm not making trying to be funny. Like, I guess we can't make you uhhh sweat out all the mana like a fever with a virus because otherwise you die.” She ignored how Cyrus rolled his eyes. “Maybe we can try giving you too much mana until you shift?”

 

Cyrus stopped scratching to yell at her. “And who the fuck is going to make that happen? Astrid sure can't because she's trying to save the angel’s boy toy.”

 

“I could.” Castiel shrugged. “We already confirmed that angel grace works very similar to mana and that your witch is compatible with it.”

 

“Why the fuck won't you say our names?” Cyrus snapped.

 

“I-” Castiel shook his head. “If you want to give it a chance, you know where to find me.” Castiel grabbed his book from the table. “If it were up to me, I'd let you die.” With that, he walked away.

 

◇

 

Mary Winchester arrived at the bunker the next day. It was somewhere around 6am. Imagine her shock when the first thing she saw was a man covered in random patches of brown fur, claws and a full set of fangs. She had her gun pointed at his forehead, silver bullets at the ready, when she heard it whining and saw the tears running down his cheeks. The creature didn't seem to pay heed to the gun aimed at his face, it just knelt on the floor hugging it's knees and growling between whines. 

 

“Cyrus?” 

 

Mary pointed her gun at the hall that lead to the dormitories. 

 

“Cyrus, where are you?”

 

Hearing the female voice, the creature fell silent and crawled until it hid under a table. Mary pointed the gun at him, when a a dark figure stepped in between her and the monster. She fired her gun on instinct and dropped the gun when she recognized the tan trench coat on the dark.

 

“Cyrus! Castiel!” Astrid ran into her room with fury and fear in her eyes. She saw Mary and a bullet hole on Castiel’s shoulders. “Get away from him! Igni!” Astrid’s hands went up in flames, the fire burning off the sleeves of her henley shirt. 

 

Castiel quickly pushed Mary behind him, shielding her from the witch’s fire. Astrid was too shocked to even ask what was going on. The fire on her hand slowly died until it was only ash on her skin. Astrid tried to dust her arm off, grimacing at the smell of burnt hair, when she heard deep breathing and a silent sob.

 

“Cyrus?” Astrid ran into the library and threw herself to the floor. Cyrus saw her and tried to get away from her as fast as he could. He was stopped by Astrid crawling under the table and holding onto his ankle. “Cy, what's wrong? Talk to me.”

 

Castiel made sure Mary wasn't going to move before he knelt down on the floor near the siblings. “He hasn't been feeding from you.”

 

“What?” She turned to Cyrus. “What the hell, Cyrus?” 

 

Cyrus growled. “You need to get better, I- I can keep going.”

 

“The hell you can. I woke up because I could feel pain that wasn't mine. At first I thought it was Dean again, but I knew it wasn't.”

 

“Dean?” Mary asked, dropping to her knees as well. “What do you know?”

 

“Who the fuck are you, bitch?” Astrid snapped. “You come in here guns blazing like a damn stupid hunter and then expect me to share info? Fuck off.” 

 

Astrid angrily shoved Cyrus’ pant leg up so that she had access to his skin. She forced enough mana into him to fix the damage he had caused to his own body. Cyrus tired to struggle at first, but then he just relaxed and allowed Astrid to take care of him. His fangs disappeared, and he quickly began to shed his fur. His claws took a bit longer to go away, but they dissapeared eventually. All this happened while Mary Winchester yelled back at Astrid.

 

Astrid wasn't able to hear much, too focused on Cyrus to listen. She heard the words mother, monster, shit, respect, and son being repeated several times. 

 

“Castiel?” Astrid asked. She looked at the angel when she let go of Cyrus. He had fallen asleep. “Can you please carry my brother to his room? Then come back because I think I'm going to faint.”

 

“I-” Castiel didn't have time to answer. 

 

Astrid had already fainted and Mary was shocked once again.

 

“Castiel, who are these two? Why is there a witch and shifter in the bunker? What would Sam and Dean think about-”

 

“Right now, they are the only help I have.” Castiel stood and pushed the table away to have better access to Cyrus. “I'll explain it all when I have them settled in their rooms.” Castiel lifted Cyrus like a sack of potatoes and put him over his shoulder. 

 

Mary was left with an unconscious witch on the floor. She was wearing the shortest and tightest gym shorts she had ever seen and the thickest wool socks in existence. Mary fixed her eyes on the dark lines that covered her legs. Mary reached for her phone and turned on the flashlight app Sam had downloaded for her months ago.

 

The lines were tattoos. There was a dark blue snake curled around her leg, a smaller pink one wrapped around some blue crystals, decorative flowers and leaves framing her knees, and some more neo-traditional designs of random objects that must have held meaning. What interested Mary where the vines feeling in the gaps between each tattoo and forming ab aesthetic that even Mary could appreciate. On each leaf lay a different symbol and some of the branches had spells written in several different languages too. Mary recognized some as protective spells and sigils that granted good fortune or luck. Most remained a mystery. 

 

Castiel returned and picked the witch up. He placed her over his shoulder and motioned for Mary to follow him.

 

“What do you do when someone passes out from exhaustion?” Castiel asked.

 

“Make sure they are comfortable?” Mary grimaced at her response. “I don't know.”

 

Castiel nodded and grabbed his own phone to Google his question. He walked into the room Astrid had claimed and placed her on the bed.

 

He hasn't been there in days, but the change is obvious. Astrid had moved furniture around and unpacked all of her bags. She even has stacks of paperwork and family pictures on the desk along with her expensive looking laptop. Castiel ignored the open underwear drawer with copious amount of dark lace and sat down on one of the chairs. He waited for Mary to take the last chair.

 

Just like Mary, he focused on the tattoos covering Astrid’s legs in an elegant fashion. He got closer to examine the different symbols and runes. Most were protective symbols, but others were enhancers for several kinds of spells. Castiel would like to ask her what each symbol and spell meant, but he guessed she'd never talk to him about them.

 

“Castiel, who are these people?” Mary hissed.

 

“Astrid and Cyrus Rottman.” Castiel sat back down. “Astrid is an Empath, a rare type of witch that heaven tried to eradicate when she was a baby. Cyrus is her familiar, a shapeshifter of sorts that serves as a companion to the witch. Familiars feed from magic and store it up for the witch to use it later.” Castiel stoppen when Astrid shifted in her bed. “What you saw was the result of not feeding. Familiars shift into their animal forms when they run out of mana, they turn feral and forget all about their human life. Cyrus is unable to shift from birth so I wasn't worried about it.”

 

“But you let it happen anyway,” Mary observed. 

 

“No, I offered some of my grace in lieu of Astrid’s mana. Cyrus refused.”

 

“Why can't he take her’s?”

 

“Astrid is my only hope of finding Sam and Dean.” Castiel looked down at his feet.

 

“No she's not.” Mary glared at the unconscious witch and at Castiel. “Tell me what happened to my boys.”


	21. Chapter 21

Astrid woke up to Castiel arguing with the blonde hunter. 

 

“My boys are out there and I the British men of letters could help us!”

 

“Sam and Dean don't trust them, and I've learned not to-”

 

“I don't care, Castiel!”

 

Astrid sat up. “Who the Hell are you to treat him like that?” 

 

Castiel frowned. “Why are you defending me, witch?”

 

Astrid pursed her lips. “My name is Astrid, Castiel.”

 

“I just don't see any logic into it. You have no reason to trust me and I've found that humans usually don't defend others unless they are close to them.”

 

“You've been hanging out around too many assholes, Castiel.” Astrid glared at Mary. “Spill.”

 

“My name is Mary Win-”

 

“Oh!” Astrid blinked in surprise. “You are the bitch that abandoned Dean. It's not nice to meet you.” Astrid smiled sweetly. “You've been a pain in my ass and probably the reason I'm here in fucking Kansas.”

 

Castiel stood up. “Astrid, don't be crude.” 

 

“See? It wasn't that hard.” Astrid smiled at Castiel, all fake and full of venom. 

 

“Listen here girl.” Mary stood up, ready to tear Astrid a new one. The seasoned hunter couldn't believe how rude Astrid was.

 

Astrid rolled her eyes and whispered “silentio est opus” too low for Mary to understand. One of the sigils on her legs glowed softly and Castiel and Mary felt something being shoved down their throats. It wasn't painful, just uncomfortable, and it didn't allow their vocal cords to move.

 

“Go ahead, Mary. I'm listening.” Astrid smiled when Mary didn't answer. “Great, take a sit before I make you.” Astrid pointed at the chair. She grinned when Mary sat down. “I'm pretty sure the angel told you what I am and what happened to Sam and Dean.” Astrid raised an eyebrow and Mary nodded reluctantly. “Awesome, whatever brought you back also built a bond between Dean and me. As far as I know, it's unbreakable and if I die I take him with me so no funny hunter business.” Astrid winked at Mary when her face began to flush with rage. Castiel was looking at her with an impassive expression. “I believe I can use the bond as a tracker and leave the actual rescuing to Castiel, but I'm not sure if I'm….” Astrid swallowed nervously. “I don't know how long it's going to take me to recover, I've never been this low on mana and I can't stop feeding Cyrus because you two just saw what happened and… fuck?” Astrid snapped her fingers to kill her spell. 

 

Castiel was the first to speak. “We could try my grace again.” 

 

Astrid grimaced. “It didn't last long enough for me to feel the bond with Dean like I had a couple weeks ago. It felt more like Dean was around me and not on an exact location.”

 

Castiel hummed and stood up without a word. Mary and Astrid watched as he walked out of the room filled with purpose. They glared at each other for a tense moment before running after the angel. 

 

They followed Castiel to Cyrus’ room. Castiel stood by his bed and realized Astrid and Mary had followed them. He pursed his lips and placed his hand on Cyrus’ forehead before Astrid would do anything. He pushed his grace into his body, pushing out Astrid’s mana and feeling it up with his grace. Cyrus convulsed and Astrid began to scream and holding her head. Mary held onto Astrid as she tried to run towards them.

 

It was over quickly. Cyrus stopped convulsing and broke into a fever that made Castiel frown. Mary released Astrid and she ran up to her brother. She pressed her palm to his sweaty palm and tried to check for any injuries with her Empath skills.

 

She didn't find anything wrong… or anything at all.

 

“Castiel.” Astrid grabbed Castiel’s hand and pressed it to Cyrus’ forehead. “Can you feel that?”

 

“Feel what?” Castiel frowned and tried to use Astrid’s touch as an outlet to her powers. Astrid’s mana opened up to his grace and guided it through Cyrus’ body. “I can't feel anything.”

 

“Exactly.” Astrid smiled. “Fuck, we've been trying to do that for years.”

 

Mary frowned. “I don't understand…”

 

“It means his body is finally at peace with it's animal part.” Astrid let go of Castiel's hand and sat down on the floor. “We met a shifter in Mexico. He didn't shift into humans, just birds which is rare in itself. He said that there was a certain period of time when he shifted where he wasn't a human or an animal. He didn't know what that middle ground was, but he allowed me to experiment with him to figure out what that was. It was nothing, like his mind just went away for a couple nanoseconds and his body didn't do any of its functions until his mind was back.”

 

“That means Cyrus could shift at any moment.” Castiel eyed the room. “We better move him to the library in case-” Castiel stopped talking when Astrid yawned.

 

“Wake me up when he shifts.” Astrid rolled to her feet. “He's gonna be confused as fuck when he does, so try not to get yourselves killed.” Astrid glared at Mary. “If you kill him… I'll kill myself and take Dean with me.” She pointed a threatening finger at Mary and Castiel. “Goodnight, y'all.” Astrid walked out.

 

“She's lovely.” Mary scoffed, unaware that Astrid was listening. “A lady shouldn't speak like that, Castiel. I'm telling you, I talked like that back in the day and oh boy would I be in trouble.” Mary shook her head. “She is so uneducated and did you see her tattoos? I bet she was into drugs or something when she was younger. What with that accent and those clothes.” Mary huffed. 

 

Astrid leaned against the wall outside of Cyrus’ room and whispered a spell under her breath. The small skull tattoo on her thigh glowed pink. Astrid waited a few seconds and then smiled when she heard a loud crash. Mary must've fallen face first on the floor judging from the sound.

 

“Still got it.” Astrid patted her tattoo with a smile. “Sleep spells are the best.”

 

X

 

Mary woke up on one of the spare rooms at the bunker. She sat up and looked around the room for a few seconds before something called her attention.

 

Mary heard two female voices singing loudly and laughing at a distance. She followed the sound to the kitchen. First, she saw Castiel sitting at the dinner table reading an ancient book. There was a pocket sized speaker set on the kitchen isle. Kelly and Astrid were chopping chicken and vegetables while pasta and a sauce boiled in two different bowls. Kelly noticed Mary first and elbowed Astrid on the ribs. Astrid jerked in surprise and grabbed her knife tighter. When her eyes fell on Mary, she relaxed and went back to her task.

 

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Astrid grinned at the chicken. “Nice bruise you've got there on your forehead.”

 

Kelly was momentarily alarmed by the sudden tension in the room. “Hi, I'm Kelly,” she said nervously.

 

“Oh, where are my manners?” Astrid smiled. “Kelly Klein meet Mary Winchester.”

 

“Nice to meet you… again” Kelly nodded. 

 

Mary looked like she was about to confront Astrid for knocking her out, when a timer went off. Astrid went over the the oven and turned it off without opening it. Mary frowned, but she had no cooking skills whatsoever to even begin to ask questions. Kelly and Astrid continued to chop things and then they mixed all the ingredients in a pot that had sauce in it. Mary awkwardly retreated to the kitchen table and sat besides Castiel.

 

“Why…?”

 

“Astrid said she bakes when she's stressed.” Castiel shrugged. “Don't ask.”

 

Kelly and Astrid served the table without acknowledging Mary.  They chatted about what they could cook next. The conversation eventually shifted to Kelly's job and Astrid’s business which eventually turned into an argument on foreign policies and Mary was just… sitting there…

 

She looked down at the half-eaten meal the two strangers had made for her. Astrid had been unkind and downright offensive with Mary, but she still had made the effort of serving her and asking her what she preferred to drink. Kelly, who had been on edge when she and Mary met, was almost at ease with Astrid and arguing freely without fear of angering the witch. Mary wondered if Kelly actually knew that Astrid was a witch, but Astrid didn't look like she would hide such detail in a situation like Kelly’s.

 

Astrid slammed her hand down on the table.“Holy crap, Mary, will you stop thinking so loudly?” Astrid took a drink from her glass and wiped her mouth. “I swear to God if you keep analyzing… me… oh shit!” Astrid smiled. “I can hear you!” 

 

“Hear me?” 

 

“Yes, I sometimes can hear loud thoughts but… Castiel are you doing something?” Astrid blinked her eyes at Castiel.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I can't hear you yet.” Astrid frowned sadly at her food. “Crap, I got excited for nothing.”

 

“It's progress.” Kelly shrugged. “We just have to be patient, I'm sure the boys can wait a couple days.”

 

Mary was about to complain when they heard a crash and a loud growl.

 

“What-”

 

“Cyrus!” Astrid shot up from her seat. She accidentally kicked her glass and spilled the contents over the table. She looked back at it with worry, but made the decision to come back later to clean up. 

 

Astrid tore down the hallways to Cyrus’ bedroom. She slammed the door open and sighed when Cyrus was still human. He was sleeping on the floor now; having kicked a floor lamp and breaking when his unconscious body trashed in bed. Cyrus was dead to the world, laying besides broken glass.

 

Astrid sighed and cleaned the mess. Kellys caught up with her and began to help her with the broken glass. Castiel and Mary appeared later, but didn't help them.

 

"Should we…?” Kelly pointed at the bed.

 

“I think his body did that on purpose.” Astrid grabbed a blanket from his bed and threw it on top of Cyrus. “I'm gonna head back and clean-”

 

“I'll do it,” Kelly interrupted her.

 

“Are you sure?” Astrid grimaced. “I umm.”

 

“I'll… help,” Mary said. “If it's okay.”

 

“Of course.” Kelly smiled politely and lead Mary back to the kitchen.

 

Astrid watched Castiel assessing the situation with a frown. The angel didn't say anything and just left. Astrid sighed and went to her own room.


End file.
